The Hindu : Sport : Fisichella exudes confidence

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Fisichella exudes confidence

— Photo: AFP

DETERMINED TO PERFORM: Giancarlo Fisichella, who will race for Force India in the coming Formula One season, believes his team will put up a good show.

New Delhi: Force India will not join the grid just to bring up the rear and the idea is to garner as many points as possible, especially in the second half of the Formula One calendar, said veteran Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella.

In an interview with the official Formula One website, the former Renault driver asserted Force India is not there just to make up the numbers and said people should watch out in the second half of the season.

“I am looking for points — as many as I can get. Then we will work together with the technical people to gradually improve the car and I want to be their guiding force,” Fisichella said.

“Looking at everybody’s lap times now I believe we will not have a car that will be last anymore. But it is better to wait and see what happens in Melbourne after Q1,” he added.

“As for real improvement, I would realistically say that the second part of the season is when I expect that we will catch up. Watch us then,” he said.

Fisichella admitted that Vijay Mallya, part-owner of the team was not in the traditional mode of the F1 decision maker, but said he found nothing wrong if he demanded results.

“I am still in the middle of learning about Vijay. I have simply not spent enough time with him so far. But what I see is a man who has a huge passion for the sport, and one that brings a huge new audience to the F1 table.

“But like any successful businessman, he also wants to see results. There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said.

Fisichella also confirmed that he had shunned offers from Renault and BMW Sauber to be a test driver. “Yes. But honestly that was never an option for me. I want to race.”

New challenge

Dwelling on his career, Fisichella felt joining Force India handed him a new challenge and he is determined to come off with flying colours. “For sure the general opinion was that I should have quit F1. On the contrary I like challenges and want to prove everyone wrong,” he said. — PTI

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