Courtesy of Autosport
By Simon Strang Tuesday, April 14th 2009, 09:44 GMT
Force India boss Vijay Mallya says the performance of the team's VJM02 chassis in the first two races of the 2009 has vindicated his decision to create a partnership with Mercedes-Benz over the winter.
The deal, which includes the use of Mercedes engines, gearboxes and hydraulics as well as potentially KERS in the future, has also seen McLaren man Simon Roberts take the role of CEO with Force India.
And with both Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil regularly producing midfield pace so far this season - the German finished ninth in Melbourne ? Mallya believes the agreement is already producing satisfactory results.
"Last year was very much a learning year for the team and, on the basis of these lessons, I made some changes over the winter," said Mallya. "I am pleased to see the switch to a McLaren-Mercedes drivetrain has been very reliable and the drivers say the mechanical balance and grip has to date been very good.
"Nobody would count us out for points so I think this says we have made a good decision. Secondly, we made some changes on the management front.
"The team is now a much more cohesive outfit it's all pulling in the same direction and this is entirely positive. So yes, I feel our decisions have been vindicated by the improvements this year."
Mallya also reckons that his team's first points are now a realistic target: "Before the start of the season, we said that the first four flyaway races would be somewhat of an extended test session for the team due to the lack of test mileage over the winter.
"However when we got to Australia and Adrian and Giancarlo were able to convincingly stay with the pack and so nearly got into the points, we were forced to re-evaluate our expectations," he added. "We know we still have some work to do, but I think we can be very encouraged by the speed, reliability and performance of the team."
