Force India
Roundup: VJM02 Launched and Tested In Jerez
Jerez sunset
By Alianora La Canta
March 8 2009
It's been a busy week for Force India. First, it launched the VJM02 bedecked in a new white, green and orange livery. Then the team spent four days testing their new car in Jerez with promising, if inconclusive, results. As the team looks towards Barcelona to complete its testing, it's a good time to take stock of what it's done so far.
It's been a busy week for Force India. First, it launched the VJM02 bedecked in a new white, green and orange livery. Then the team spent four days testing their new car in Jerez with promising, if inconclusive, results. As the team looks towards Barcelona to complete its testing, it's a good time to take stock of what it's done so far.
The VJM02 has been received fairly well, though some in the media still have reservations about it. How much of that is due to expectations caused by Force India's modest budget and how much by the unique approach it's taken to the design of the VJM02 is unclear.
The main visible differences between Force India and other 2009 cars are:
- The car is designed to optimise under-car airflow rather than over-car airflow. While under-car airflow has a greater effect on downforce than either the front or rear wing alone, various regulatory restrictions since the early 1980s have meant that forthe last 25 years, over-car airflow in sum has been more important than what happened underneath. Does the VJM02 signify a reversal of that process, triggered by the extensive restrictions on over-car aerodynamic devices this year?
- The nosecone is high, but unlike the Renault (the only other team whose car is built around a similar basic philosophy this year), it is of thin-to-average width. It is also an angular polygonal shape, not flat and thin (like Renault's) or oval (like Red Bull's). No KERS system will be hidden in this nose assembly, which hints that a better solution to weight distribution has been reached. Gary Anderson(Autosport's technical correspondent) has warned that this design concept risks inconsistent steering feedback and snapy understeer, but if the risks can be contained, Force India could be looking at a car that is sufficiently different from the others around it to be able to defeat them at some races - even if the overall performance is only equal or slightly inferior. Divergence is good for racing, especially for the innovatory teams, and it would be good if Force India's divergence from the norm paid off.
- The mirror doubles as an airflow conditioner. Ferrari put a bargeboard on their mirror and the likes of Renault have opted for a straightforward mirror housing.
- The front wheel fairings cover only half the wheel. In theory, wheel fairings are only permitted under the Technical Regulations if they are present to assist cooling. However, this has not stopped many teams from covering all four wheels with a complete wheel fairing. The downside is that cooling is impeded, meaning that the standard fairings on the front can't be used in hot climates, at least in the case of some teams. Force India's design will not only be in the spirit of the rule but will be usable whatever the weather (at least in theory). It got Gary Anderson really confused though...
- There are two winglets sticking out of the side of the VJM02's monocoque, somewhat ahead of the front wheels.
Perhaps the biggest immediate effect of the car was to convince everybody who hadn't figured it out yet that this is not a McLaren B-team. It is an indepedendent outfit with plenty of creative juice, which happens to outsource some of the internals to a company with which it works closely and happens to supply another team.
The test in Jerez was inconclusive for several reasons. Aside from the perennial "who knows who's testing what" conundrum (made even worse because some teams were testing 2010 tyres), the first two-and-a-half days were wet. In addition, Brawn GP didn't come because it was in the process of being bought from Honda. Some teams didn't test every day (including Force India, who packed up on Wednesday). Toro Rosso, which topped the timesheets on the first three days, did so with a car that isn't even legal this year because its 2009 chassis only arrived in time for Wednesday.
Despite all this, a few tentative conclusions can be drawn from the test with regard to Force India. There was a problem with the fuel system for the first two days, which limited the number of laps Giancarlo Fisichella was able to do. Even so, he managed 6th on Day 1 and 4th on Day 2 . By the time Adrian Sutil took over, Force India appeared to have solved the problem and the final two days ran with only a driveshaft failure delaying progress. Adrian was 5th on Day 3 and 8th and last on Day 4 (on the latter day, he was concentrating on tyres). Reliability may be an issue, but performance almost certainly is not.
Judging from the Day 3 report, we may see a refined return of the "shark fin" that was on the VJM01 for the latter half of 2008. However, at launch the VJM02 did not feature such a device.
To give an indication of how Force India's performance has been received, the front cover of the March 5 edition of Autosport features a Force India with a box labelled "surprise package". Let's hope Force India continues to give good surprises through the next weeks and months.
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08/03/2009 18:00
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- Force India changed its logo because Bernie Ecclestone (representing FOM, the marketing arm of F1) thought that the "FI" design could be confused with F1 too easily. So Force India now have a "Fi" design instead. This is despite F1 not being a trademarked term and having been confirmed as not FOM's trademark by at least two court cases. I can only assume this is an example of Force India trying not to cause too much trouble with the powers that be.
- Adrian Sutil has confirmed that Force India definitely won't be using KERS in Australia because other teams have had reliability worries and Force India wants a car that works in the first instance. Marty(kieves) noticed this before me and opened a thread accordingly.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:03:08:18:15:15 by Alianora La Canta.
Too bad we don't have autosport here in the Netherlands.
