Force India team principal Vijay Mallya has confirmed that GP2 driver James Calado will join the team as their third driver.
Calado will also drive the VJM06 during first practice for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. Meanwhile Di Resta and Sutil are feeling confident going into the 12th round of the season.
The 24-year-old drove for the Force India team at the Young Driver Test earlier in the season. He impressed and that sparked speculation that he would fill the vacant third driver role at the Silverstone based squad.
Mallya confirmed in a team statement that Calado would be joining the team: "I’m pleased to confirm that we’ve signed James as our third driver. We worked with him during the Silverstone test and he impressed everyone with his speed and consistency. We’ve always tried to support young drivers and this is a great opportunity for James to gain some valuable experience of driving during Formula One race events."
He also revealed that Calado will drive in a few more practice sessions before the season comes to a close: "James will take part in the opening free practice session on Friday. He will also run in practice at several other races this year. It’s always useful to get another driver’s feedback on the car and it will help us evaluate James."
Meanwhile race driver Paul Di Resta is in high spirits going into the weekend, feeling that the team has solved the issues from before the summer break: "I feel we’ve certainly solved some of the issues we had in Hungary, but it’s also apparent that some teams have caught up with us, and I don’t think we’ve got the advantage that we had before."
He added: "It’s going to be a fight all the way, especially with teams like McLaren taking a step forward, and it will be an interesting end to the year. We need to keep optimising the car and we’ve still got a bit more potential to unleash from the tyre situation."
Despite being cautious to predict where Force India will fit in, he is quietly confident that the team can continue their strong performances at the Monza circuit: "I’d like to say we can be competitive, but we have to see how it is when we get there on Friday morning. We had a very good qualifying session last year and we ended up fourth fastest so that’s a good sign for this year."
Team-mate Adrian Sutil is similarly optimistic: "The car is very efficient and we showed good top speed in Spa, so I expect the same this weekend. We are usually quick at Monza and I remember Paul qualified well last year. Also, it’s the track where I got my best result in Formula One in 2009 so historically it’s one of our best tracks."
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, newly signed James Calado spoke on his new role with Force India.
When asked if the deal was for one year only he replied: "The reserve driver deal is just for this year and the idea of the whole thing is that they can evaluate me, and we can discuss our options in 2014."
He also hopes to drive in first practice sessions at Abu Dhabi, Brazil and Korea although nothing has actually been set in stone, he will be driving again after Italy but he is unsure where.
Calado then explained how the deal came about, discussing the Young Driver Test where he got his first taste of F1 machinery: "It was quite nerve-wracking, because it was my first time actually driving a Formula 1 car. But at the end of the day I think I did a reasonably good job and they were impressed. And soon after that, actually, it was decided that I was going to be the reserve driver."
He added that he has known about the deal for some time but has had to keep quiet: "I've actually known about it for a long, long time. It's only now I've been able to publicise it to everyone."
The Brit admitted that the next few months will be very busy as he juggled GP2 commitments with his new role at Force India: "I'm going to be extremely busy, especially this weekend. But at the end of the day, I only see it as a positive. These days, you need as much time in any car as possible and I think if you're good enough, you're able to adapt quick enough."
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
The 24-year-old drove for the Force India team at the Young Driver Test earlier in the season. He impressed and that sparked speculation that he would fill the vacant third driver role at the Silverstone based squad.
Mallya confirmed in a team statement that Calado would be joining the team: "I’m pleased to confirm that we’ve signed James as our third driver. We worked with him during the Silverstone test and he impressed everyone with his speed and consistency. We’ve always tried to support young drivers and this is a great opportunity for James to gain some valuable experience of driving during Formula One race events."
He also revealed that Calado will drive in a few more practice sessions before the season comes to a close: "James will take part in the opening free practice session on Friday. He will also run in practice at several other races this year. It’s always useful to get another driver’s feedback on the car and it will help us evaluate James."
Meanwhile race driver Paul Di Resta is in high spirits going into the weekend, feeling that the team has solved the issues from before the summer break: "I feel we’ve certainly solved some of the issues we had in Hungary, but it’s also apparent that some teams have caught up with us, and I don’t think we’ve got the advantage that we had before."
He added: "It’s going to be a fight all the way, especially with teams like McLaren taking a step forward, and it will be an interesting end to the year. We need to keep optimising the car and we’ve still got a bit more potential to unleash from the tyre situation."
Despite being cautious to predict where Force India will fit in, he is quietly confident that the team can continue their strong performances at the Monza circuit: "I’d like to say we can be competitive, but we have to see how it is when we get there on Friday morning. We had a very good qualifying session last year and we ended up fourth fastest so that’s a good sign for this year."
Team-mate Adrian Sutil is similarly optimistic: "The car is very efficient and we showed good top speed in Spa, so I expect the same this weekend. We are usually quick at Monza and I remember Paul qualified well last year. Also, it’s the track where I got my best result in Formula One in 2009 so historically it’s one of our best tracks."
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, newly signed James Calado spoke on his new role with Force India.
When asked if the deal was for one year only he replied: "The reserve driver deal is just for this year and the idea of the whole thing is that they can evaluate me, and we can discuss our options in 2014."
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Calado then explained how the deal came about, discussing the Young Driver Test where he got his first taste of F1 machinery: "It was quite nerve-wracking, because it was my first time actually driving a Formula 1 car. But at the end of the day I think I did a reasonably good job and they were impressed. And soon after that, actually, it was decided that I was going to be the reserve driver."
He added that he has known about the deal for some time but has had to keep quiet: "I've actually known about it for a long, long time. It's only now I've been able to publicise it to everyone."
The Brit admitted that the next few months will be very busy as he juggled GP2 commitments with his new role at Force India: "I'm going to be extremely busy, especially this weekend. But at the end of the day, I only see it as a positive. These days, you need as much time in any car as possible and I think if you're good enough, you're able to adapt quick enough."
No comments:
Post a Comment