The Bahrain International Circuit has Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella licking their lips in anticipation of a strong Sunday finish on a track that, they claim, suits them to the tee.
Sutil, after failing to finish the races in Melbourne and Sepang, hopes he can master the gently undulating Hermann Tilke-designed 5.412km track that combines long straights with tight, narrow corners and post his first finish of the season.
"In Bahrain, you need to be quick in a straight line, and the teams will be close together, but I think with the new upgrades we have in Bahrain we will be much closer than ever to the other teams," a buoyant Sutil said.
"It's mainly a hairpin circuit, a few quick chicanes but mainly second gear corners, so it should suit us a bit better," asserted the German youngster.
On Force India's prospects, Sutil said, "I think we will be close to reaching second qualifying again. We saw in both Melbourne and Malaysia that Giancarlo was close, and it will be similar again I hope.
"I feel I've been unlucky in qualifying, and then of course in the race, but I am confident that we won't have the same problem again," he said.
Fisichella was also impressed by the track and assured a better showing by the team.
"I enjoy the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is a good track with a long straight that can be very enjoyable if you have a good engine, which we do. There are of course a couple of tricky corners and it is very demanding on brakes, so it proves to be a good challenge.
"I think we can also try to get into Q2, but this always depends on us getting the perfect lap and maybe one of the others making a mistake - it's very close racing this year, particularly with Toro Rosso and Honda, and I think this battle will continue for the rest of the season," said Fisichella.
Stressing on the need to formulate a strategy to beat the Honda cars, Fisichella said, "In Malaysia we were fighting hard with these two teams and were very close in lap times, especially with Rubens (Barichello). I think to beat him we need to have a good strategy, but now we know what we have to do, we can look into it in Bahrain.
"With the race pace we have we can take some risks with the strategies until we know what suits us best. I am looking forward to it," Fisichella said.
Team principal Colin Kolles is also looking forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix after the strong showing in the first two races of the year.
"Giancarlo did a fantastic job in Malaysia and hopefully should be rewarded with a position in Q2 in Bahrain and a good result on Sunday," Kolles said.
"Adrian was unlucky in the first two races but I am sure that in this next event he will have the opportunity to show his real potential," he said in a statement.
Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne also exuded confidence that the team would reach the second qualifying sessions in Bahrain.
