Force India F1 team corrects aero error ahead of Abu Dhabi GP

McLaren looks set to face a renewed attack from Force India in the fight for fifth place in the constructors' championship with its Formula 1 rival having now corrected an aero concept mistake.

The two teams had been locked in a close battle for much of the season, but McLaren has recently edged clear thanks to development upgrades improving its speed.

Force India had appeared unable to respond as it slipped down the order, but deputy team principal Bob Fernley has revealed that it has now worked out what went wrong.

Rather than the situation being simply down to McLaren being able to outspend Force India with its development budget, the Silverstone-based outfit pursued a wrong aero concept.

Fernley told AUTOSPORT: "Obviously they [McLaren] do have a much more significant development budget than ours, but we have to take our own responsibility that our upgrades didn't quite deliver what we had hoped they would do.

"We took a wrong direction mid-season, and we only worked that out a race or so ago.

"We have moved in the right direction now and although it has helped us move forward with the 2015 car, it lost us some ground just after the halfway point of this year.

"So our tail off was the result of that step in the wrong direction."

Fernley would not expand on the specifics of the mistake Force India had made - beyond saying that it was a wrong 'concept' in terms of aerodynamics.

Having uncovered what went wrong, it showed improved form in Brazil and, thanks to double points being on offer for the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the team knows that there is still a slim chance it can cause an 11th hour upset.

Force India is currently 34 points behind McLaren - so in theory a fifth and sixth place finish for Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez could lift it above its rival.