Di Resta sure his car issues are resolved

The 26-year-old Scot hasn’t scored in the last three grands prix, his last point-scoring finish being his excellent fourth in Singapore. While his Sauber-bound team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, has scored in Japan, Korea and India, Di Resta has been handicapped by a “fundamental” problem with his car.

“I think there is one fundamental thing that we have picked up on and after the last races it has been getting progressively worse and worse,” said Di Resta. “I don’t think it has been that easy to identify exactly what the problem has been. We hope that we have resolved the issues by taking action for this grand prix.”

Understandably, the Scot refused to go into details about the problem, but he did confirm the team had identified it before the Indian GP last Sunday. “I am not saying what it is, but we picked up on it on Saturday night, which was probably not the best time, because you kind of knew the race was going to be difficult,” he continued.

“So for probably one of the best races I have ever driven in India, personally getting what I could out of the car, it was not rewarding enough. But I left India far more satisfied than I left Korea.

“I think since then everybody within the factory and within this team has investigated further and picked up on a few other things as a result.”

Hulkenberg, meanwhile, has promised to do his best to help Force India beat Sauber in the F1 constructors’ championship even if it costs his future team millions of dollars.

Force India are seventh overall and 23 points behind sixth-placed Sauber with three races remaining. “I am fully committed to Force India, we have three more races to go,” said the German.

“I look forward to the new challenge, the new contract, but also I look forward to doing the last few races here. I am fully motivated and will give  everything.”