Force India target Q2 from first race

The pace of the new VJM-01, which ran for the first time in Barcelona this week, suggests that the team have made a step forward in performance - with more updates planned for the Australian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil, who drive for the team last year, is very happy with his early impressions of the car and believes that the team's ambition of a place in Q2 is realistic.

"The new car has improved, that is for sure," he said. "The first day was quite good in my opinion. The entrance into corners, the stability, is better. And it is easier to drive.

"So there is more coming, perhaps three to four tenths for the Melbourne Grand Prix. So I think it is quite a good update and I am very confident to be competitive in Australia."

Sutil said that, despite positive news coming from the wind tunnel figures with the new car, he had not got too excited about the chances of a step forward so soon. But now, having tasted the machine for the first time, he is happy.

"I was careful with all these expectations about what the engineers said, but I am happy in the first day that we appeared to gain three or four tenths, and we are expecting that again for Melbourne," he said.

"If we do that, then we should have a step of seven tenths, which could get us into Q2."

Team principal Colin Kolles backed Sutil's targets, believe the team could enjoy a lift in performance from the first race in Melbourne.

When asked by autosport.com if Q2 was realistic, he said: "Yes because we have some more parts coming for Melbourne.

"The driveability of the car definitely improved according to the drivers. You can never quantify it in terms of tenths of a second, but they feel more comfortable with the car and there will be new bits coming for Melbourne.

"And there is obviously a development in place to further upgrade the car."