Column: How likely is third for Force India?

At Force India's launch of the VJM10, team owner Vijay Mallya said confidently that the team would target third place in the constructors championship for 2017.

How likely is finishing third for Force India?

Well Mallya believes it is possible, as he reckons the new regulations is a clean slate for all the teams to develop something new. If that's what it comes down to then it really is up to the designers more than ever to produce something competitive.

And as it usually goes, the top teams employ the top engineers. The top teams also have the higher budgets which allows much more testing opportunities and arguably more margin for error.

Will an innovation help a team make a leap forward?

It is theoretically possible that a team could produce a Brawn-esque shock and unexpectedly take home multiple trophies from the 20 races that we are waiting to feast our eyes upon.

However, Williams' Rob Smedley says that these unique and exclusive discoveries are much more difficult to find due to the tightening of rules. That doesn't mean that it's impossible, it may just require a light bulb moment. I'm not an engineer but I'm sure that that is much more difficult than it sounds.

So how do Force India look in all of this?

Well the front wing is already causing a stir, and while it may not look glamorous, it could prove to be a very smart move. The shark fin is certainly larger than we've seen from Sauber and Renault. But to predict how the car's design will shape them up for the season ahead would be useless as even the insiders don't have a notion.

So based on pure speculation (that's all one can really do at this point) there is absolutely no reason why they can't take third in the championship. It would of course mean jumping ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari, but why not?

They have only failed to progress upwards in the constructors table once in their history. 2012 saw them drop from 6th the previous year to seventh. Going higher again this year is without a doubt a huge task, but who says that it can't be done?

Fergal Walsh