Giancarlo Fisichella's fighting twelfth-place finish in Malaysia is proof positive that
Force India is making solid progress in its maiden campaign in the top flight in 2008 – that is the view of Vijay Mallya, as the former Spyker outfit bids to shake off its perennial backmarker tag for good.
Fisichella in particular demonstrated encouraging pace in free practice sessions in both Australia and Malaysia, placing his VJM01 inside the top ten on more than one occasion – a distinct leap up the pecking order for a team that last year was firmly rooted to the back of the grid. On both occasions the veteran Italian has come within a whisker of making it through into the team's stated goal of Q2 – agonisingly missing out in Sepang by the scant margin of 0.05 seconds – but chairman Mallya remains convinced that day will come…and soon.
“When Force India came into the sport just a few months ago, some observers expected us to stay in the same position and just be happy to be on the grid,” the Indian billionaire underlined. “These last two races have resolutely shown that we are not just in it for the taking part – we want to race competitively.
“We have done the maths, we have looked at the statistics and have improved by over two seconds from this time last year. This is not a sign of a team just pleased to be here.
“In Malaysia I was delighted to see Giancarlo fighting for twelfth position – not just lucking into it at the end of the race thanks to retirements. He was actually able to race with others and win this position by merit.
Formula 1 has never been so competitive, and to be able to do this is a sure sign of progress on our part.
“Adrian has been unlucky not to finish the races so far this year so we have not yet seen how much improvement he has made, however I am sure this will be his chance. We are all looking forward to Bahrain now.”
![Giancarlo Fisichella - Force India-Ferrari VJM01 [pic credit: Force India/Sutton]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/410307.jpg)
