Sepang, Malaysia - Force India owner Vijay Mallya said he remained upbeat despite a disappointing Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday. Mallya told the official Formula One website ahead of Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix he was "satisfied and excited" by the performance of the team in Melbourne despite failing to finish.
"Our practice time clearly put us amongst the top 15, although the qualifying timing was disappointing. This resulted also because of a little bad luck, with the yellow flag and making a mistake in choosing the tyres," he said.
"We have learned from these mistakes, which are normal, but it is very satisfying to get acknowledgement of the progress the team has made, because many people came to me and congratulated me on the early progress that we have achieved."
The team's experienced Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella went out in the first lap and German Adrian Sutil's car had hydraulic pressure problems and retired after just eight of the 58 laps.
Force India, which emerged from last year's Spyker team, is India's first venture into Formula One.
"We have some more aerodynamic improvements to do in Malaysia, which hopefully will further improve performance," Mallya said.
"Once we are well into the European season, there will be one major step of improvement also. So in the second half of the season we should be truly very competitive, and definitely make it into the top of Q2 (second qualifying)."
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton of Britain dominated the Australian Grand Pric, with BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld of Germany second and fellow German Nico Rosberg in a Williams third.
Meanwhile reports say the Malaysian Grand Prix could become a night race held under floodlights from 2009.
Sepang officials will consult with Formula One teams and drivers at this weekend's racing before making a final decision, it was reported in Malaysia.
Formula One will be holding an inaugural night race in Singapore, and Formula One boss would like races such as Australia and Malaysia to follow the example.
Sepang general manager Datuk Azmi Murad told Malaysia's New Straits Times the circuit owners had yet to make any decision.
"Right now, it is only an option," he said.
"Nothing is finalised yet. We are still gathering input and we should also include the drivers and teams in Formula One and MotoGP before we can do a proper evaluation. The governing bodies - the FIA and FIM - also have to be consulted.
"It isn't only about whether to do or not to do it, it is also about how we want to do it and what sort of lighting, where we should locate the lighting and so on.
"The decision will also be based on whether it is viable economically. But we are not going to have a night race just because Singapore are doing it. As I said, there are many options - and many more we haven't looked at. The decision hasn't been made yet."
