The Silverstone-based squad has regularly fought for the top six in the constructors' championship in recent year and currently sits fifth in the standings, just three points behind Williams and 60 ahead of McLaren, which has a much bigger budget at its disposal.

Hulkenberg reckons the fact that Force India has always operated without the help from a manufacturer is what has made the team so efficient.

"They haven't been spoiled, because they haven't had a manufacturer which puts in a lot of money so you can develop," Hulkenberg told Motorsport.com.

"Sort of like Sauber: BMW came in, went out.

"They [Force India] did not have that scenario when they suddenly have a lot of money and than they don't have it anymore.

"Just always you know steadily operating at a lower budget and learning how to be very efficient with that.

"At Sauber you could see the infrastructure they had, so you could tell there was a manufacturer before," added the German, referring to Sauber becoming BMW's works F1 team from 2006 to 2010.

Hulkenberg, who will stay on with the team next year, thinks Force India has become very good at hiring the right people without overspending.

"I think over the last few years they employed good quality people," he said. "They all working well together back home in the factory and they're very clever and good at you know choosing their bullets. Because we don't have tons of money.

"So we need to chose carefully which road we go down to and what we really doing and what we focus on.

"And then it's important that if we make the decisions that delivers and I think that's one of the key things and what the team is really good at."

Interview by Oleg Karpov