The Force India VJM03 F1 team launched today, their 2010 ace, The Silverstone based team ended the last season as a real usual challenger for points and the new car, the VJM03, builds on the hard basics established by its forerunner, which took pole for the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Our aim is to go on on the same path of performance upgrading that we had at the end of last season, added Vijay Mallya, Force India F1 team principal. I don’t think I am being over-proud when I speak 2009 was an brilliant year for us. The bare statistics say it all: one podium, one pole position, one fastest lap, a further five top 10 starts and 13 points. We’ve learnt from our experiences and we’ve come out a better team: resilient, practical and now resurgent. I hope 2010 will see this great improvement carrying forward. We’ve got one podium so far but I would hope that, this time next year, I’m talking about more points and more podiums. I’m confident we can get this, why not aim high?Force India VJM03 is a growth of 2009 year’s car and it incorporates the package of regulations changes introduced for this year, with the requirement for a bigger fuel tank as a result of the refueling ban and a control to narrower front tyres.
The Force India VJM03 is absolutely a growth of the VJM02 in terms of the design philosophies we have developed at Force India over the last year. We are very happy with the way, consequently we have opted to evolve the car rather than considerably revise, explained Design director Mark Smith. Clearly one of the main aspects we have had to contend with is regulation changes which have had a considerable impact on some aspects of the design of the car. The elimination of refueling from races increases the amount of fuel needed to be stored in the cars – almost twice the amount we ran in 2009. There is a compromise now: either make the car much longer or wider, or, as we have done, a combination of both. This of course has influenced the mechanical design solutions and also the aerodynamics, particularly with respects to the diffuser and bodywork,” he sustained.
Still with the ban of double diffusers for 2011, we recognize that we still have to press on as much as we maybe can in this area in 2010 as we have targets to meet and the double diffuser is a key growth aspect of the car, he told.The Force India VJM03 was obviously quicker on the low down-force circuits; however Smith is confident that this year the VJM03 will be strong across the board: The VJM02 was a fairly low drag car that showed well on the low down-force tracks. As was demonstrated throughout 2009, that was a valuable attribute but as we go into 2010 we have tried to maintain a high level of aerodynamic good organization, but we recognize that our championship position will be enhanced by a general level of performance that is suited to all types of circuits. We have, we believe, fairly an capable car generally.
The new VJM03 will make its official testing on 10 February at Jerez. Vitantonio Liuzzi will be on driving duties for the first two days before Adrian Sutil takes over on 12 February for a further two days. Test and Third driver Paul di Resta will step into the car on 17 February in Jerez.
