Force India want to build on Bahrain showing

Chennai, May 02: Force India are working on upgrades to their cars as they look to build on their double finish in Bahrain last Sunday, the Formula One team's co-owner Vijay Mallya said.

"We have another update coming in Barcelona, more particularly an improved version of this interim diffuser, and some further aero upgrades," Indian millionaire Mallya told the team's official website.

"I'm not naive enough to believe that other teams aren't improving, I'm sure everybody is going hammer and tongs trying to find better performance.”

"But we're there and we're racing, and it's so competitive. In the midfield everything is separated by hundredths now, and to be in the hunt is quite an impressive achievement."

In Bahrain, Giancarlo Fisichella finished 15th and Adrian Sutil was 16th, after both the Mercedes-powered cars ran in the midfield at times with Fisichella moving as high as 10th.

The Italian's race ended in pain with his seat chafing against his hip while Sutil collided with Kazuki Nakajima of Williams but climbed back to 11th by his late first stop.

Their performances have raised Mallya's hopes ahead of the May 10 Barcelona grand prix.

Although the team have yet to score a point following a barren first season in 2008, Mallya said they had become more competitive.

"I'm satisfied that we were racing, and we were racing some of the best teams in the business," he said. "We beat the BMWs, which is not something I could have predicted with any degree of certainty last year."