22/02/2017
NEWS STORY
Sahara Force India launched its 2017 contender today offering fans their first look at the team's new car, the VJM10.
Silverstone circuit was the venue as Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon pulled back the covers to reveal the team's new look including an updated livery and expanded partner portfolio.
"I can't remember being more excited ahead of a new season," said Team Principal, Vijay Mallya. "The VJM10 looks aggressive and purposeful, and is the result of a huge effort behind the scenes over the last twelve months. We have big hopes for this car, which looks stunning in its new livery."
Responding to Cyril Abiteboul's comment that Force India was likely to suffer in the spending 'arms race', Mallya was clearly up for the fight. "It's not how many arms you have," he said, "it's the quality of your weaponry."
With a complete overhaul of technical regulations, the VJM10 represents a clean sheet of paper in terms of design. "This year the cars are completely new and nothing can be carried over from previous years," explained Chief Operating Officer, Otmar Szafnauer. "Although we have completely new aerodynamics on the VJM10, it's fair to say that our aero philosophy is very similar to 2015 and 2016."
"It's definitely a big overhaul," admitted Technical Director, Andrew Green, "one that requires a change in mentality. It took a bit of time to adjust at first, but we are there now and I am confident we know where to look and where the performance is coming from with this car. The development slope is incredibly steep and we are going to see significant updates to the cars at regular intervals, right from the start; it's going to be big updates and I don't think development will start to taper off any time soon."
Despite his warning for Renault, Mallya remained cautious on setting a target for the season, preferring to reserve judgement until the racing begins. "Simply repeating our performance level of 2016 will be a big task in itself," he admitted. "I don't want to set goals or targets other than to say that we intend to maintain the momentum we have built up in recent years and carry it into the new season. There are too many unknowns to say more than this."
Check out our Force India VJM10 gallery, here.