---
title: "2017 Mid-Season Review – The Force of the midfield"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/08/09/2017-mid-season-review-force-midfield/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Kyran Gibbons"
section: "Formula 1"
published: "2017-08-09T12:47:01Z"
modified: "2017-08-09T12:47:01Z"
---

# 2017 Mid-Season Review – The Force of the midfield

Everyone loves a plucky underdog. Formula 1 has seen its fair share of teams triumph in the face of adversity over the years, be it Olivier Panis taking Ligier to Monaco glory in 1996 or Brawn GP’s double championship success of 2009, salvaged from the ashes of the beleaguered Honda team.

Due to their consistency, it is difficult to justify Force India as an underdog in 2017 – a season in which they have built on their record breaking 2016 innings. It is all too easy to forget the budget restrictions the team face as a result of being an independent outfit in a category as expensive as F1.

They are, at least, still underdogs in what seems an improbable fight to go one step further this season and break into the top three in the constructors’ standings.

Many armchair pundits laughed when team boss Vijay Mallya issued this lofty 2017 target at the launch of the VJM10. Fourth place at the close of 2016 was a new high watermark for the Silverstone-based team, but with 2017 touted as a year to be dictated by the development race – where high budgets would be of high value – plus the loss of Nico Hulkenberg to Renault, holding onto fourth would have been a more pragmatic goal.

However, those that scoffed at Mallya’s ambition in February have somewhat been silenced by another season in which the team has exceeded expectations.

![Mark Thompson/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/08/814243718.jpg)

With 60 points in hand over 2016 rivals Williams, Force India has been looking ahead rather than over their shoulder in the first half of the season, as unreliability at Red Bull has presented the team with a handful of opportunities and a sniff of the top three in the constructors’.

Assessing their season to date, Force India should ultimately be even closer to Red Bull at this halfway stage than the 83 points in which they trail.

After securing a lucrative sponsorship deal with water treatment company BWT and painting the cars pink as a result, Force India exploded out of the blocks with double points scoring finishes in the first five races.

This was a far-cry from their comparatively sluggish start to the previous campaign. After five races in 2016, the team had amassed a meagre 14 points. After the same number of races this season, the consistent combination of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, coupled with a quick and reliable VJM10, had scored 53.

This form has continued, with Monaco and Azerbaijan being the only venues thus far in which both drivers have not delivered points for the team on a Sunday.

![Clive Rose/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/08/800498494.jpg)

However, a competitive car and two ultra-competitive drivers has caused the team a handful of headaches this season. In Montreal and Baku, these headaches have turned into fully-fledged migraines and costly ones at that.

In Canada, both Perez and Ocon enjoyed strong weekends and their pace in the race followed the form guide laid out in practice. With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen having been sidelined as a result of technical woes and Ferrari enduring a clumsy afternoon, Force India was presented with an opportunity to steal a podium.

Daniel Ricciardo, on heavily worn rubber, was the only man standing in their way. Perez tried and failed to make an overtake work. Ocon, who was directly behind his team-mate, believed that with fresher tyres he could pass the Red Bull. But without a decisive call from the pitwall to pull Perez aside for his team-mate, the moment passed and both Pink Panthers were eventually swallowed by a hard charging Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages.

The next race in Baku saw inter-team tensions elevated to extremes, as combative wheel-to-wheel racing between Ocon and Perez during a safety car restart saw the two tangle.

Perez was eventually eliminated from the action as a result, but with the race proving to be one of the most chaotic in recent memory, Ocon’s limp back to the pits following the contact was rewarded with an eventual fifth place.

Skant conciliation, however, on a day when the team could have secured not only their first race win, but their first one-two finish, given the issues which derailed Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel’s races and Perez and Ocon’s promising positions at the time of the contact.

Given that Force India sat just 19 points adrift of Red Bull heading into the weekend, they could have feasibly left Azerbaijan sitting pretty in their desired third place in the constructors’ championship.

![Getty Images/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/08/800772848.jpg)

After both Montreal and Baku, the team’s hierarchy looked to downplay the controversies. Regardless, it would appear that scars have been formed in their driver’s relationship. For instance, Perez has claimed that the Baku clash was caused by Ocon’s “lack of intelligence,” rather than poor race craft.

Nevertheless, in-fighting between drivers is not always detrimental to a team’s overall ambitions. With Perez currently seventh in the drivers’ standings on 57 points and Ocon a slender 11 points adrift, the two will be determined to beat each other in the second half of the season. An increased focus and competitive spirit can often be a result and as long as the Baku debacle is not revisited, then Force India could profit.

Despite these missed opportunities, the stats tell the story. The underdogs are on the brink of retaining their ‘best-of-the-rest’ title, cementing their standing as the predominant force in the midfield.

Perez and Ocon have played key roles. With the top three teams removed from the picture and the subsequent points tallies re-worked, Perez leads the drivers’ championship on 180 points, while Ocon sits on 157. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz is their nearest adversary but a full 40 points adrift of Ocon.

![Dan Istitene/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/08/699570422.jpg)

The Frenchman has placed himself in the frame for driver of the season accolades come November with his consistency in contradiction of his age and lack of experience. Perez has found himself in an unexpected tussle for supremacy within the team and one which will have no doubt pleased the team’s management, barring the Baku incident.

It is highly unlikely that Force India will steal third place from Red Bull in the second half of the season. The mere fact that we are mentioning the two teams in the same breath though, is a credit to Force India’s 2017 campaign.

The missed opportunities have simply been characteristic of the racing spirit that has seen their rapid rise through F1’s pecking order.