Zoom Force India still chasing its first point

The Force India Ferrari team makes the short hop over the East China Sea from the environs of Mount Fuji, Japan, to the heart of Shanghai, China, for the penultimate round of the championship, the Chinese Grand Prix.

This weekend's event is held at the ultra-modern Shanghai International Circuit, a track designed by F1 circuit designer du jour, Hermann Tilke, on an area of reclaimed marshland some 40km from the centre of China's most densely populated city.

China made its F1 debut in 2004, and quickly impressed with its generous facilities, state of the art equipment and challenging circuit lay out. The 5.4km circuit comprises a long pit straight into a tight hairpin, with seven left and seven right hand turns in total. From the air it resembles the Chinese character for 'high' or 'above' - Shang.

The Force India team believe they go to this event with renewed confidence following an improved race-day performance at the Japanese Grand Prix just days ago.

Dr Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director
"With just one week between the Japanese and Chinese Grand Prix it's a very quick turnaround for the team, but it does not leave any opportunity for our momentum to slip. Although the ultimate result of Japan was disappointing, we could see that the level of performance we demonstrated in Monza, which allowed us to go through to Q2, had returned. We need to keep this motivation and improved pace until the end of the season and not let our heads go down, there is so much to still keep working for. I think everyone would be disappointed if we got to the end of the year in effectively the same position we started, without any points on the board. It's a matter of personal pride for everyone."

Colin Kolles, Team Principal
"I think our race pace was good in Japan and despite the fact the race result was ultimately disappointing, we showed that the Singapore performance was just a bit of a blip. I think we are competitive with the very close group at the rear of the field now and if we start a bit higher up the grid, we stand every chance of finishing well. Opportunities are running out now and we need to start making the most of all of our chances."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer
"China is a typical modern track with some quite long straights followed by hairpins and very challenging corners. We will use a very similar set-up to Japan over there to maximise performance, with a lower downforce setting to optimise the speed down the straights without compromising the grip levels in the corners. In contrast to Japan, the Shanghai circuit is perhaps a little bumpier now it is several years old and has greater extremes of climate."