Force India Formula 1 chief Vijay Mallya thinks that Renault's Cyril Abiteboul "may have to eat his words" after predicting that privateer teams will struggle through 2017.
All teams have invested great resources in gearing up for the 2017 season amid one of the most radical regulation changes in recent memory, as the F1 grid fields faster, more aggressive cars.
Abiteboul told reporters at the launch of Renault's new F1 car on Tuesday that he expected 2017 to be "an arms race" as teams rapidly introduced upgrades to their cars throughout the season.
"I really feel for the teams who are under-resourced because clearly when I see this car that we are presenting today is not the car that will test in Barcelona and the car in Barcelona is not the car that will race in Melbourne," Abiteboul is quoted as saying by RACER.
"Race by race we've got an introduction of new parts. I really feel for those teams that will have to keep that resource, the regulations will be very difficult for small teams. I think most of the car build budget for Force India will be gone by now just to cope with the new regulations.
"So that is something that we are also taking into account. With the level of resources that we have we should be easily capable of beating teams like Haas, like Force India and so on and so forth."
Speaking at Force India's unveiling of the VJM10 car on Wednesday, Mallya responded to Abiteboul's comments by expressing his belief that the team could carry through the momentum from 2016 when it came fourth in the constructors' championship, its highest finish in F1.
"Many commentators of the sport have always said that we punch well above our weight and to add to that, the world champions for the amount of money spent is a huge compliment,” Mallya said.
“It speaks volumes for the passion, the creativity, the talent of my team and everybody at the factory. This passion is only going to get more intense, and the passion to improve further is going to be pretty radical in 2017.
“If we did not dream big, we would not have finished fourth in the world championship last year. To be in the company of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari is a huge accomplishment in itself.
"We have always dreamed big. We have never had conversations even in private that we cannot break into the top three. That is going to be our objective. We will certainly give it our best shot.
"I read an article this morning where Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul said teams like Force India may struggle in an arms race. Good luck to him. He may have to eat his words. It’s not the amount of arms you have, but the quality of your weaponry."
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