Mallya plays down expectations

Force India owner Vijay Mallya has warned against a repeat of his team's stunning surge to prominence as occurred in last season's Belgian Grand Prix.

Heading into that race a year ago Force India had qualified in the top 10 only once previously, and had yet to score a point.

But after a few days rampaging through the Ardennes forest, the team emerged from an unforgettable weekend with their maiden pole position and not just points but a place on the podium.

Giancarlo Fisichella, who joined Ferrari after the race, finished second by only a second to then Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen.

Mallya, however, feels it is asking too much of his team to mirror that performance despite their improvement overall this season, and even though the team's cars will boast significant upgrades.

"We have a good car in low-downforce trim, which counts at a track like Spa and Monza (for next month's Italian Grand Prix)," said Mallya.

"We also have a new rear-wing package to use here in conjunction with the F-duct, which is working very well.

"Additionally we will be using the new blown floor on both cars on Friday.

"We tried it in Hungary, and we hope to actually race it in Spa if the information we gather shows as much of an improvement as it did there.

"All the same, we're not pinning all our hopes on Spa and Monza. It is going to be tough to replicate the kind of form we showed in Spa last year.

"Everybody has improved, the competition is fierce and also very even in the midfield - the gaps between teams is so small now."

In the points table it is a different story as Force India are a strong sixth, albeit 59 points adrift of fifth-placed Renault.

For the remainder of the season Mallya's goal is to maintain their current placing, hopefully holding the challenge of Williams and Sauber behind them.

"Everyone in the team is looking forward to this second part of the season," added Mallya.

"We had a couple of weeks off over the shutdown period and we've all come back refreshed, strong and optimistic.

"We are currently sixth in the championship and we've got to make sure we hang on to it by optimising everything we can, and Spa is a great track to start on a roll.

"We still have some updates coming for the rest of the season, so we're going to be pushing all the way, right through to Abu Dhabi.

"We've the opportunity to achieve our best finish in the championship in many years, and it's not something I'm going to let go lightly."