JUNE 11, 2013

Di Resta insists relations good at Force India

Paul di Resta insists his relationship with Force India remains "good", despite two rounds of hefty criticism and rumours of a garage scuffle.

Paul di Resta insists his relationship with Force India remains good, despite two rounds of hefty criticism and rumours of a garage scuffle.

The Scot was not only heavily critical of the team's qualifying strategy in Monaco, but he said the way Force India left him in the Montreal pits with a minor problem during the best track conditions last Saturday was "clearly not acceptable".

After that, rumours of a scuffle between the 27-year-old's trainer and a team mechanic were not denied by the Silverstone based team.

Still, di Resta insists that his angry criticism of Force India was "taken constructively" by the management.

"Everybody in the team felt the same," he is quoted by the BBC.

"The person who made the mistake apologised and I'm fully supportive of that.

"Looking back, I don't think I was too harsh. When you work with the team so closely, it's good to have that heat because you need to show your emotion," said di Resta.

"If I'd made a mistake twice, I'd be kicking myself and the team would come down hard on me -- and rightly so."

Di Resta moved on from his horror Montreal qualifying to finish a solid seventh on Sunday, on the occasion of Force India's 100th grand prix.

"We regrouped," he said, "showed we can do it and, as far as my relationship with the team is concerned, it's still good."

(GMM)