01/02/2013
NEWS STORY
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Paul di Resta cut a lonely figure as he unveiled Sahara Force India's 2013 contender, at Silverstone this morning, the team yet to name his teammate.
The Scot lifted the covers off the Silverstone-based outfit's car with the help of team boss Bob Fernley, the Indian outfit aiming to continue where it left off in 2012.
Jules Bianchi and Adrian Sutil are both believed to be under consideration, though the team is giving nothing away at this time, Fernley suggesting that the line-up wont be finalised until the (first) Barcelona test.
The VJM06 is the third car to be overseen by Technical Director, Andrew Green, and builds on the strengths of the 2012 car. With stable technical rules the car is more evolution than revolution with the removal of the 'step' nose being the most obvious visual change.
"The VJM06 doesn't look massively different to its predecessor, but beneath the skin we've looked at every detail to try and find more performance," said Team Principal, Dr Vijay Mallya. "I've followed the development of the car closely and I'm proud of what we have achieved. The objective now is to make sure we build on the promise of last year and have a strong start to the season."
"It's a brand new car from the ground-up, everything is new," said Andy Green. "We discussed carrying over big chunks of last year's car, including the chassis, but decided not to. There were still some gains to be had with the chassis, so we elected to take the performance benefits.
"The biggest change that everybody is going to notice this year is the fairing on top of the nose to hide the 'step'," he added. "It's neutral as far as the car's performance is concerned but tidies up the flow over the top of the chassis."
"We're very optimistic," said Chief Operating Officer, Otmar Szafnauer. "We've been working hard over the winter, trying to make improvements where we know we can find performance. Everything has come together very nicely. We've also focussed on operational strength by bolstering our simulator programme and increasing our CFD capacity with new hardware."
The cars will be powered by Mercedes engines with the gearbox supplied by McLaren Applied Technologies for a fifth season. This will be the third season with the Mercedes KERS.
Check out our VJM06 gallery, here.