We are most improved team on the grid, Mallya claims after Force India's impressive Malaysian performance.
Giancarlo Fisichella demonstrated Force India's improving potential in Formula 1 in 2008, with a strong run to twelfth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
In so doing, the experienced Italian finished ahead of the Honda of Rubens Barrichello and both Williams and Super Aguri machines - an impressive showing for a team that last year struggled to beat any of its competitors. Fisichella's fastest lap was just 1.6 seconds adrift of the quickest of the race and a second shy of that set by Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren-Mercedes, and it has given the former Spyker outfit reasons to be hopeful for the remainder of the campaign.
The 35-year-old may have had a bad getaway - losing three positions from his 17th grid slot through wheelspin - but he soon caught Barrichello and had closed to within a second of the Brazilian by the time of the second round of pit-stops. He ultimately took the place when his rival was handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.
"I think we honestly did our best here," Fisichella underlined. "At the start I had a lot of wheelspin and lost a lot of positions; I don't know why but we have to look into it.
"In my first stint I was suffering a lot of understeer with graining on the soft tyres, but then in my stop I adjusted the front flap and went onto the harder tyres and stayed on them for both stints. I was happy with the race pace later on, and it is promising for the rest of the season."
Team-mate Adrian Sutil was rather less fortunate, enduring his second successive DNF when the hydraulics on his VJM01 gave up the ghost as early as lap five. The young German had made up six positions into 14th spot at the time of his retirement.
"Very early on in the race I developed a mechanical problem," the 25-year-old recounted, "and had to switch the engine off and pull off the track. I am very disappointed with this start to the season, especially after I had to stop so soon into the race in Australia too."
Team chairman and managing director Dr Vijay Mallya, however, preferred to focus on the positives from the race weekend, praising Fisichella's performance and predicting further progress over the course of the campaign.
"Overall we have shown a genuine improvement in pace in Malaysia from last season," the Indian billionaire stressed. "In 2007 this team was at the back of the grid; this year we were just 0.05 seconds from getting into Q2.
"We have bettered our fastest lap by over two seconds - more than any other team on the grid - but more importantly we showed that we are now able to race and are no longer the team bringing up the rear of the field.
"Unfortunately Adrian once again went out in the early stages through no fault of his own - which sadly denied him the chance to show how he could do under race conditions - but Giancarlo drove an excellent race, setting some very promising times and was able to fight for position. I feel this is highly promising for the rest of the season."
"[There were] some real positives from the weekend," added chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne, "but also some very bad luck for Adrian. He had had a difficult weekend until the race but then made a great start and his race pace was looking really strong, so it's a real shame we had a hydraulic issue on his car very early on.
"Giancarlo made a bad start, but after the first stop he showed a really competitive race pace. Ultimately it was disappointing not to get two cars to the finish, but overall I think we can look forward to a much better season than the team has had over the last few years."
