Di Resta says fight for points at Monza will be very close

The Force India driver will start from 11th position, after losing out to Renault's Bruno Senna in the dying stages of the second qualifying segment yesterday.

The Scot reckons Force India and Mercedes, which qualified both its drivers in the top ten, will be evenly matched in the race.

"It's close," di Resta said. "The long run performance of Mercedes yesterday was pretty close to us. I don't know what the fuel loads were but I know where we were.

"It's a difficult one to predict. I would say that Mercedes are very, very strong in the first sector. What is happening there I don't know but obviously there is not much you can change to do anything about that. You basically predict what you best package is.

"I think it's about who's come best prepared at the moment and what updates they've got coming through. Our ambition is to beat Sauber in the Constructors' Championship and that's what the guys are working to achieve and equally me and Adrian."

Di Resta also warned that overtaking will not be as abundant as many have predicted, despite the double DRS zone and the nature of the Monza circuit.

"I don't think it is going to be as easy as people think. But having said that there are cars out there that have got massive amounts of top speed.

"Look at the Renault, they can almost be 10ks quicker than us. They have obviously chosen a very long gear and a very small wing, you can see that the second element is pretty small."