Di Resta up for Montreal test

Paul di Resta has vowed to go on the attack on Sunday after again producing a performance above and beyond the nature of his car.

Di Resta starts from eighth on the grid for the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his Force India, the second highest grid slot of his 26-race Formula One career.

To add context to the statistic, Di Resta out-qualified Michael Schumacher - who set the fastest time in qualifying in Monaco a fortnight ago in his Mercedes - and McLaren's Jenson Button.

But rather than looking over his shoulder, the Scot sees no reason why he should not be looking to make further inroads up the field in the race.

"Any points will be welcome," said Di Resta, who already has 21 to his name this season, just six behind his total from last year.

"I can't say how many we'll get because we're starting in front of a Mercedes and a McLaren, so already it's going to be a tough job.

"But why should we give up? Why shouldn't we challenge some of the others in front because we have the pace this weekend to do it?

"It's been quite a constructive weekend, we've shown ourselves to be competitive, with the package showing up well.

"On high-fuel runs we equally appear to be quite strong, but it will come down to who has the best tyre management.

"The temperature forecast is quite a bit different for tomorrow, and it will play into some people's hands and not others."

Di Resta is referring to the fact temperatures are due to climb up to 29 degrees centigrade, a few degrees hotter than Saturday and several up on Friday.

"I've no reason to see why that would be more negative for us," said Di Resta.

"We had issues with warm-up (in practice) yesterday, so clearly more temperature is needed.

"It will be interesting, it will be different, and we'll try to maximise what we can do and catch people off guard from it."

It means there is every chance of Di Resta grabbing the seventh place or higher required to see him equal or surpass the 27 points he accrued from 19 races in his debut campaign last year.

That, however, is not a target, adding: "I'm not concentrating too much on that. I'm concentrating on trying to score as many as I can.

"We have had a good start, but so have others, as we're in this position we certainly need to make a difference.

"We're obviously in front of other midfield teams, so tomorrow any points will be a big benefit for us."