Force India targets Red Bull with Spanish GP upgrade

The team has earned a solid fourth place thus far, having got both cars into the points in all four races, despite Renault, Williams, Haas and Toro Rosso all showing superior qualifying pace on occasion.

However, Fernley is hopeful that the aero upgrade due for the Spanish GP will produce a significant pace improvement, and allow the team not just to beat its rivals on merit, but also to push Red Bull.

Asked by Motorsport.com if Force India could now target Red Bull, Fernley replied: “If everything works to plan from Barcelona, that’s where we can reassess it. 

"We mustn't forget the other teams are not standing still either, so we need to just be cautious on that.

"The first objective is to make sure we can consolidate the fourth place, and deliver that. Then if we can from a performance point of view keep moving it through, it will be ideal.

"It's been quite a tremendous run for four races, hopefully in Barcelona we can bolt on that missing performance and then we can go toe-to-toe with the others.

"Right from day one we set our stall put in Australia knowing we had a slight performance deficit, with a view to using race craft, strategy and reliability to overcome that, and that's what we've done."

Ocon praise

Fernley believes that Esteban Ocon has made good progress since the start of his first full F1 season.

The Frenchman finished 10th in the first three races – despite less than trouble-free weekends – and was seventh in Russia.

"He's doing a super job. He's still learning when it comes to the qualifying and going through the first part of the weekend.

"What is super is the maturity that he shows in the first part of the race. And that's been there from the start – he's a remarkable racer. From our point of view that's where we gain the points, and we can help him with the other bits.

"I think if you look at the way he's come in and the progression even from Melbourne in four races, Sochi was the first weekend when he got into Q3, and he's been the in the points in four races. It doesn't get an awful lot better than that for a team where we are."

Fernley expects Ocon to be able to keep teammate Sergio Perez on his toes.

"I think by the time we get to Silverstone we will see both drivers absolutely pushing hard, and from our side I think it will be very exciting.

"If we can just get that performance deficit dealt with, I think it could be an incredibly exciting second half of the season."