Each point Force India gain now costs another $5 000, but it’s worth every cent

LONDON: Force India are enjoying their highest-scoring Formula One season, the team punching above their weight to secure fourth place in the constructors’ championship for the second year in a row.

But as COO Otmar Szafnauer wryly observes, there is a point at which success is a bit of a mixed blessing.

“Every point we gain now, it doesn’t help us to secure fourth but it does cost us in entry for the championship next year, another $5 000 per point to the FIA,” said the 53-year-old Romania-born American.

“We can’t afford that,” he added, before a hasty, “only joking”.

Every point costs $5 161 on top of a basic $516,128 when it comes to calculating a team’s 2018 entrance fee. The rate for champions Mercedes is $6 194 and they have 625 points so far.

Force India’s 177 – four points more than last year’s haul – will cost the Silverstone-based team $913,497 on top of the base fee and there is still next week’s finale in Abu Dhabi to come.

That’s a tidy sum for a team counting ever penny, with a staff of 400 and an annual budget of around $100 million compared to rivals with double the workforce and three times the financial clout.

Force India cannot overhaul third-placed Red Bull, who are 181 points ahead, and nor are they in any danger from fifthplaced Williams on 82. But they will still be pushing hard.

Mexican Sergio Perez and French teammate Esteban Ocon are free to race each other after being reined in as a result of earlier clashes and will be hoping to wrap up on a high.

F1 is far from a level playing field and Szafnauer, who works with deputy principal Bob Fernley to steer the team at the track in the absence of embattled co-owner Vijay Mallya, knows 2018 will be another tough battle.

When it comes to discretionary spend – the amount left over after engine bills, travel costs and staff wages are deducted from the budget – Force India have far less than their main rivals.

“That’s probably 1/10th of what some of the others have,” said Szafnauer.