Sahara Force India
Force India team principal Vijay Mallya says he is anticipating the battle with McLaren over fifth place in the Constructors' championship to become 'more intense' as the season reaches its final stages.
Mallya's squad has enjoyed a strong campaign and, after dropping behind McLaren in Italy, they re-gained fifth from their rivals after the Singapore Grand Prix and now lead them by six points ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
"We were ahead, then we fell behind, and now we're back in fifth place," he said.
"I think we all recognise that the fight is only going to become even more intense as the end of the season approaches. To be in this position after 14 races says a lot about what we have achieved this year.
"We’ve also scored more points than ever before [117] and there is still a quarter of the season to go. Whatever happens in the remaining races, I’m already very proud of our achievements in 2014."
Force India has only once scored points in five attempts at Suzuka - courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg in 2012 - but Mallya is confident that the team can improve on that record this weekend.
"We haven't had the best of results in Suzuka over the years, but hopefully with this car and these two drivers we can come away with some points," he said.
"We brought an aero update to Singapore and, in terms of race pace, it worked well. Suzuka will give us another chance to evaluate those parts because it’s a track that is dominated by medium-speed corners. There are also a few more bits and pieces coming before the end of the year, so we're continuing to push hard and not giving up."
