"Force India can surprise"

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Giancarlo Fisichella feels that Force India could be the surprise package in this year's Formula One Championship.
Incidentally, former Red Bull driver David Coulthard, now an F1 pundit, had a similar hunch about the Silverstone-based outfit following its tie-up with McLaren-Mercedes late last year.

Fisichella believes the slew of sweeping changes has, to a large extent, evened out some of the glaring F1 inequalities and insists Coulthard didn't merely talk through his hat.

"Why not? I think this year is a good opportunity for us as a team," Fisichella told PTI on the eve of Force India's new challenger VJM02's official track debut at Jerez, Spain on Sunday.

"Everyone has had to redesign their cars, so if you had a good car last year you might not have a good one this year. We're all a lot more equal this year and with a good overall package I think we could be strong once we've had a few races," he said.

The late unveiling of VJM02, however, limits the outfit's testing opportunities and the lack of laps doesn't amuse the Italian. "It is a disadvantage as it's important to drive as much as you can before the start of the year to get a feeling with the car and try and establish a good set-up," said the 36-year-old Roman.

"It's not easy in just four days, especially with the new rules coming in this year. We are just going to have to try and get as much as we can from these eight days before the season," he added.

A veteran of 200-plus F1 races, Fisichella reckons slick tyre, reduced role of aerodynamics and other changes would mix things up this season and negotiating corners would be the key for the drivers.

"F1 was very tight last year, with the whole field separated by just over a second, so it will be hard to be that close this year. But I do think that the field will be a lot more mixed -- we don't know who has got it right as the rules are so different and teams have all interpreted them differently.

"I think this year we will have to be very smooth. The cars will have less grip from the aero, but more grip from the tyres so you will have to be very smooth through the corners. If you get it wrong then you might go off more easily than last year," he explained.

Force India came close to scoring its maiden point a couple of times last year only to fall short of it. Asked how difficult it was to go through an entire season without points, Fisichella said it is now a thing of past for him. "I love Formula One so it's not hard to stay motivated as I love driving the cars and still want to do well. There are always challenges in motorsport, but you have to keep looking to the next opportunity and not think too much about the past," he said.

Instead, Fisichella is rather keen to look at this year's Championship.

"I think this year is maybe the biggest change for many years, with KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), slick tyres, downforce and new aero rules, so it's very exciting. It would be good to see all the teams mixed up and to be able to fight for points," he said.