Formula One: Di Resta believes he is ready to step up to one of the top teams

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Paul Di Resta's manager feels the Scot has made himself more visible in the driver market following his stunning performance in Singapore.

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Ian Parkes

After starting from a joint career-high grid slot of sixth, Di Resta, pictured, followed up with his best result in his two years in Formula One with fourth place in what is arguably the toughest race of the season.

The 26-year-old, who has been linked with a move away from Force India at the end of the year, could not have hand-picked a better grand prix to showcase his talent and the Scot's new manager, Richard Goddard, said: "It was a fantastic drive from start to finish. It highlights the talent he has."Goddard, who also represents Jensen Button, added: "It is one of Jenson's massive strengths that for lap after lap he produces the same time, and it's about getting the majority out of the car and also being clever in the use of tyres. Paul has also been able to demonstrate that, and the closer you finish to the podium and are on the podium, that's when you get recognised by more and more teams."So that's what this result will do for him. It will give him a lot more visibility."Obviously, he is contracted to Force India at the moment, so there are no issues from that perspective. It's not like he is having to look around for another drive."Di Resta already has a contract with Force India for 2013. The difficulty is if a team like McLaren come calling, should Lewis Hamilton move to Mercedes, would they want to buy out the remaining year of the Scot's Force India deal?"I would like to think I am capable of stepping up to one of the bigger teams," said Di Resta. "When the time is right, hopefully someone will step up and give me the chance to do that, because I want to be in a car that wins races week in, week out."Meanwhile, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says Hamilton has dealt with his Singapore GP disappointment "as a world champion" and backed his driver to come back stronger at the final six races of the season.Hamilton looked on course for his second win on the bounce, but a gearbox failure ended his hopes and he is now 52 points behind leader Fernando Alonso in the drivers' championship.There has been some speculation linking Hamilton with a move to Mercedes at the end of the season, but a source inside McLaren claims that talks over a new contract are "85-90%" resolved.Whitmarsh praised his driver and refused to speculate whether a deal could be done before the next race in Japan in a fortnight. "I'm not going to make any predictions," he said. "Right now we need to regroup, we've six races to go and we have to win those six races. A lot of things can still happen and, as I've said all along, it's going to be determined in Brazil [the final race]."

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Formula One: Di Resta believes he is ready to step up to one of the top teams

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