Despite not having a blown rear diffuser for the British Grand Prix, Force India's Tonio Liuzzi remains confident that his team can continue with his point-scoring streak.
Q. Now that you are back on a more 'normal' circuit, is this the weekend that you find out for sure that the straightline speed problem you previously had with this chassis is gone?
Tonio LiuzziVitantonio Liuzzi: Definitely. It's a circuit where everything should be real because it's the first proper circuit where you need downforce, you have long straights. You have a bit of everything like Barcelona where everyone goes testing because it's a proper circuit to understand things in the car. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I won't be in the car in FP1 but in FP2 I will try to see that everything is as we expected and as we saw in the last two races.
Q. Does what you've seen in the previous two races give you confidence that it will be OK?
VL: Yes. That's what we believed. The reason why we changed from this chassis earlier this season was a lack of top-speed and it didn't appear to be a big problem in Montreal - it was very little – and in Valencia it wasn't there so it shouldn't be a big problem. Everything is in the right direction.
Q. Force India has an aerodynamic upgrade this weekend. What do you expect from that?
VL: This is a circuit where downforce is the key, especially for the first sector. And the new part of the circuit also needs a lot of downforce. To bring updates here was very important. Some teams have the blown diffuser – we don't have that – but we brought some interesting updates in the front wing and the floor that should give us a decent step forward and help us to fight for points.
Q. What are the team's objectives for the second half of the season?
VL: We know our objectives for the season overall. We will fight to at least double the number of points that we have up to now because there are some interesting races coming in the next part of the championship where our car always showed strong performance. We are in good shape for the rest of the season. In Valencia we were fast, and it was just not being in the right time at the right moment for the pit-stop that decided everything. We are positive that we still have good opportunities for the future.
Q. Have you tried simulations of the modified circuit?
VL: Yes. The team did a lot of simulation in the factory and we worked in the simulator yesterday to learn the new circuit and to do some setup test. It's quite different. The downforce level will be a little different from the part and everything needs to be reviewed from the setup that you had in the past. It will be an interesting challenge. The bumps could be an issue for some of the teams because in the new section the track seems quite bumpy so that's something that could dominate the setup.
Q. Is the bump where the old track turns into the new section at Abbey, which was there when Formula 3 raced at the track a few months ago, a problem?
VL: It's still there, this bump, and that could be quite a big issue. In theory, you can go nearly flat in seventh or sixth gear and at that speed the bump could affect the car. It could be dangerous for an F1 car at that speed, but it's the same for everybody. We need to work on the ride heights for the bumps.
Q. How confident are you for this weekend?
VL: It's our home race and we have worked hard towards this grand prix. Since last year, we have worked a lot on downforce in this car and added a lot to the car. It is not one of our favourite races, but we can still be competitive enough to fight for points - that is always our target. We believe that we are in good shape. We brought some updates that should help us to compete with the other cars that have brought the blown diffuser.
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Showing posts with label Force India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Force India. Show all posts
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Friday, 14 May 2010
Force India predicts qualifying 'lottery'
Force India boss Vijay Mallya believes the speed difference between F1 cars will make Monaco Grand Prix qualifying a lottery on Saturday.
"Today we were very satisfied with the pace of our longer runs and the positions in both sessions were encouraging," said Mallya following Friday practice.
"However what we have seen is that the speed difference between the cars - sometimes up to five seconds - will make qualifying a lottery."
The Indian nonetheless reckons his team has the speed to reach the top ten on Saturday.
"We believe we have the potential to be right up there fighting for Q3 but we'll have to see how it goes in on Saturday," he added. "The right ingredients are there, we just need them to mix together in the right way."
Adrian Sutil posted the eighth fastest time of the day, the German also encouraged by his car's pace.
"It was a very good day for me," he said. "I'm very happy with my performance and with the car. The set-up was really good and we didn't have to make any major changes over the day, which means there is not so much work for tomorrow and Saturday's final practice.
"The car is going very consistently and I could set good lap times so the end classification looks promising, but we can also be very satisfied about the pace of the long runs. We didn't have many problems with the tyre compounds here, just a bit of graining on the soft one, but it's under control and nothing to worry about.
"Overall I think we look pretty strong for a practice day and can be confident going into qualifying."
Team-mate Tonio Liuzzi finished down in 15th position.
"Today we were very satisfied with the pace of our longer runs and the positions in both sessions were encouraging," said Mallya following Friday practice.
"However what we have seen is that the speed difference between the cars - sometimes up to five seconds - will make qualifying a lottery."
The Indian nonetheless reckons his team has the speed to reach the top ten on Saturday.
"We believe we have the potential to be right up there fighting for Q3 but we'll have to see how it goes in on Saturday," he added. "The right ingredients are there, we just need them to mix together in the right way."
Adrian Sutil posted the eighth fastest time of the day, the German also encouraged by his car's pace.
"It was a very good day for me," he said. "I'm very happy with my performance and with the car. The set-up was really good and we didn't have to make any major changes over the day, which means there is not so much work for tomorrow and Saturday's final practice.
"The car is going very consistently and I could set good lap times so the end classification looks promising, but we can also be very satisfied about the pace of the long runs. We didn't have many problems with the tyre compounds here, just a bit of graining on the soft one, but it's under control and nothing to worry about.
"Overall I think we look pretty strong for a practice day and can be confident going into qualifying."
Team-mate Tonio Liuzzi finished down in 15th position.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Force India confident of holding position
Force India team boss Vijay Mallya reckons his squad has done enough to hold its position when the whole field introduces new development parts at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The three-week break since China and the return to Europe after four flyaway races has given all the Formula 1 teams chance to embark on their most concerted development push since the winter, with a wide array of upgrades set to be introduced up and down the pitlane at Catalunya.
Force India has made a very strong start to the year, building on its late-2009 form to become a consistent top ten contender. Mallya says the efforts of its Mark Smith-led technical team since Shanghai should mean there is no danger Force India will be leapfrogged by faster-developing rivals.
"Mark and his team have a solid programme of developments throughout the first half of the season, some of which will come in Spain," said Mallya.
"The simulations we've been doing back in the factory are very positive and I'm sure we will be able to maintain the form we have shown before and maybe even move further up the field.
"The other teams are not sleeping I am sure, and we'll see how much everyone has moved forward in Barcelona, but based on the way the team is working together at the factory and wind tunnel and then the superb implementation we see at the track I think we'll have an edge."
Driver Adrian Sutil agreed that Force India should be able to hold position at least, and said he saw no reason to lower his expectations for Spain.
"We have some aerodynamic improvements all over the car, with refinements to the front wing and bargeboard area, plus some mechanical changes aimed at improving lower speed corner performance," he said. "I think this will put us in quite good shape for Spain and see us maintaining our position.
"Of course you don't know what the others are doing but the development race is so tight now, everybody is at a point where it's hard to find every single tenth.
"We've looked very competitive in the first four races and I don't see why that should change. The feeling in the team is positive, we've got a good plan, I feel very confident and comfortable in where we are and where we are going. Q3 and points is now the normal aim for us and we're disappointed if we don't get them."
The three-week break since China and the return to Europe after four flyaway races has given all the Formula 1 teams chance to embark on their most concerted development push since the winter, with a wide array of upgrades set to be introduced up and down the pitlane at Catalunya.
Force India has made a very strong start to the year, building on its late-2009 form to become a consistent top ten contender. Mallya says the efforts of its Mark Smith-led technical team since Shanghai should mean there is no danger Force India will be leapfrogged by faster-developing rivals.
"Mark and his team have a solid programme of developments throughout the first half of the season, some of which will come in Spain," said Mallya.
"The simulations we've been doing back in the factory are very positive and I'm sure we will be able to maintain the form we have shown before and maybe even move further up the field.
"The other teams are not sleeping I am sure, and we'll see how much everyone has moved forward in Barcelona, but based on the way the team is working together at the factory and wind tunnel and then the superb implementation we see at the track I think we'll have an edge."
Driver Adrian Sutil agreed that Force India should be able to hold position at least, and said he saw no reason to lower his expectations for Spain.
"We have some aerodynamic improvements all over the car, with refinements to the front wing and bargeboard area, plus some mechanical changes aimed at improving lower speed corner performance," he said. "I think this will put us in quite good shape for Spain and see us maintaining our position.
"Of course you don't know what the others are doing but the development race is so tight now, everybody is at a point where it's hard to find every single tenth.
"We've looked very competitive in the first four races and I don't see why that should change. The feeling in the team is positive, we've got a good plan, I feel very confident and comfortable in where we are and where we are going. Q3 and points is now the normal aim for us and we're disappointed if we don't get them."
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Liuzzi: Force India now a big team
Force India has shaken off its old mantle as one of Formula 1's small teams on the back of its strong start to the 2010 season, reckons driver Vitantonio Liuzzi.
The Silverstone-based outfit has scored points in three of the first four races of the year and, with strong qualifying performances too, Liuzzi believes the outfit has hit the kind of form it needs to threaten more established outfits.
"When you start having results and you start scoring points then you feel much stronger," said Liuzzi. "You feel better because you see your efforts have paid off. And also it is good because it's not just your confidence that goes up, the team confidence goes up too.
"That is an important thing, especially for a team like our one. We are doing big things, we are scoring points consistently and we have shown that we are no longer a small team. These things keep you alive, keep you believing and keep you moving forward."
Liuzzi thinks the fact that Force India has moved forward from its promising end to 2009 is evidence of how strong the team has become, but he equally knows that there remains a big challenge in keeping the improvements going.
"Even last year I was saying that Force India will surprise some people, because it has a really strong group of people. There are really great people working there, great technical people, great mechanics, and everyone is working really well together. It is the best team I've ever worked with in my short career.
"It shows that the performance we are having this year is not the result of luck, but we also know we could be much faster. We are at the moment achieving our target where we want to be, but we need to push hard because the other teams are not sleeping and the development after Barcelona will be crucial for the remaining part of the season."
And on the back of recent comments from Robert Kubica suggesting that Renault needed to keep a watching eye over Force India's pace, Liuzzi knows how serious his team's rivals are treating the outfit.
"With Robert we are really good friends, we speak after every race and we always believe we are competitors for them and they are competitors for us," he said.
"We are pushing like hell to develop, because we think we can get good results in the remaining part of the season as well. It is nice to hear that they are looking at us and also nice that other teams are looking at us too. It shows we are no longer a backmarker team."
The Silverstone-based outfit has scored points in three of the first four races of the year and, with strong qualifying performances too, Liuzzi believes the outfit has hit the kind of form it needs to threaten more established outfits.
"When you start having results and you start scoring points then you feel much stronger," said Liuzzi. "You feel better because you see your efforts have paid off. And also it is good because it's not just your confidence that goes up, the team confidence goes up too.
"That is an important thing, especially for a team like our one. We are doing big things, we are scoring points consistently and we have shown that we are no longer a small team. These things keep you alive, keep you believing and keep you moving forward."
Liuzzi thinks the fact that Force India has moved forward from its promising end to 2009 is evidence of how strong the team has become, but he equally knows that there remains a big challenge in keeping the improvements going.
"Even last year I was saying that Force India will surprise some people, because it has a really strong group of people. There are really great people working there, great technical people, great mechanics, and everyone is working really well together. It is the best team I've ever worked with in my short career.
"It shows that the performance we are having this year is not the result of luck, but we also know we could be much faster. We are at the moment achieving our target where we want to be, but we need to push hard because the other teams are not sleeping and the development after Barcelona will be crucial for the remaining part of the season."
And on the back of recent comments from Robert Kubica suggesting that Renault needed to keep a watching eye over Force India's pace, Liuzzi knows how serious his team's rivals are treating the outfit.
"With Robert we are really good friends, we speak after every race and we always believe we are competitors for them and they are competitors for us," he said.
"We are pushing like hell to develop, because we think we can get good results in the remaining part of the season as well. It is nice to hear that they are looking at us and also nice that other teams are looking at us too. It shows we are no longer a backmarker team."
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Sutil delighted with second row slot
Adrian Sutil was delighted with his qualifying performance in Malaysia after securing fourth place on the grid ahead of tomorrow's race.
"It was a great qualifying again for us," said the Force India driver after his best performance of the season so far.
"As I expected it rained at 4pm, I said that yesterday I think! It was challenging and the conditions changed a lot over the sessions. Sometimes it was a lot of rain, sometimes half wet, half dry so it was very important to choose the right tyres.
"I think we did a great job in those conditions and every session we did the optimum. I am so happy to be in this position now. It's a great achievement and my team really deserved it.
"They did a fantastic job: being there on the right time on the right tyre was very important. My time in the end was good for P4: a great job all round," added Sutil.
The German finished ahead of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi, who will start from 10th, completing a strong day for the Silverstone-based squad.
"We can be happy about getting through to Q3 as this was our target for this weekend," he said. "It was a good qualifying, Q3 started very wet, very similar to Brazil last year, and then it dried up very quickly at the end.
"I had a problem on the last lap with a locking front brake and lost the last run but that's how it is in these conditions: you have to get the right spot at the right time.
"Tomorrow will be a tough race from where we are. We have a lot of quick cars around us but as we've seen today we are strong in all conditions. I'm looking forward to it."
"It was a great qualifying again for us," said the Force India driver after his best performance of the season so far.
"As I expected it rained at 4pm, I said that yesterday I think! It was challenging and the conditions changed a lot over the sessions. Sometimes it was a lot of rain, sometimes half wet, half dry so it was very important to choose the right tyres.
"I think we did a great job in those conditions and every session we did the optimum. I am so happy to be in this position now. It's a great achievement and my team really deserved it.
"They did a fantastic job: being there on the right time on the right tyre was very important. My time in the end was good for P4: a great job all round," added Sutil.
The German finished ahead of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi, who will start from 10th, completing a strong day for the Silverstone-based squad.
"We can be happy about getting through to Q3 as this was our target for this weekend," he said. "It was a good qualifying, Q3 started very wet, very similar to Brazil last year, and then it dried up very quickly at the end.
"I had a problem on the last lap with a locking front brake and lost the last run but that's how it is in these conditions: you have to get the right spot at the right time.
"Tomorrow will be a tough race from where we are. We have a lot of quick cars around us but as we've seen today we are strong in all conditions. I'm looking forward to it."
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Force India’s Australian Preview
Following an encouraging showing at the 2010 curtain raiser, the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Force India F1 Team now heads to Australia in a buoyant mood for the second round of the FIA Formula One World Championship. Tonio Liuzzi, contesting his first full race season since 2007, secured two points in Bahrain while Adrian Sutil qualified in the top ten and raced to 12th position at the flag fall, setting the second quickest lap of the race in the process.
The team has reason to be optimistic for the next race as new aero developments will be introduced, while test and reserve Paul di Resta will make his free practice debut on Friday. The young Scot will replace Adrian Sutil in FP1 as he seeks to gain further track time and experience behind the wheel of the VJM03.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
In Bahrain Tonio finished ninth and 'best of the rest' behind the eight cars from the four pacesetting teams. Were you satisfied with that?
It's what our objective was over the winter. We set ourselves an internal objective of finishing fifth in the World Championship. I know there's a long way to go, but it's a right start. We've got a solid car to start with, and we've got a good base, and now it's about the development rate for the rest of the year. It was fantastic for Tonio to have scored points for the first time since 2007. Adrian's second fastest lap means there's also some good for him to take out of the race too. I think we all acknowledge that last year our progress was sporadic - on some tracks we were very quick, on others not so good - so to come out this strongly is a really good step forward. With the new upgrades we have in the pipeline for Australia I can say with every faith that we can carry the momentum forward.
Paul di Resta will be driving one of the cars on Friday in Australia. What is the thinking behind that?
Paul is a very good driver and has a lot of potential. But as a third driver the question is how he can use this potential if there's no testing in-season. This is a good solution all round, he can learn the car and the tracks in real time and therefore spend his simulator time helping to develop the car, which will be of real benefit to us. The race drivers are very supportive of the move - they've all been young drivers one time!
How has the reaction been in India to the team's success?
Formula One is growing by leaps and bounds in India. Firstly they have an Indian team and now, in the form of Karun Chandhok, they have an Indian driver. The fans now have genuine interest to hold on to. Sure, people were aware of the big legends of the sport - Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton - but for them to have tangible, identifiable properties is the difference between a minority sport and national interest. With the Indian Grand Prix now looking very promising it's really building - you've got these heroes and now you can go and watch them too. You can see the interest growing day by day, on our social networking site we've got more than one million followers.
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
How would you review Bahrain?
I think it was a very good start to the season. We were very competitive in free practice; I was quickest in FP1, and then again in qualifying where both Tonio and I were in the top 12. Last year we didn't get through to Q2 in Bahrain so to come out and be in the top 12 is really positive. Everything went well until the start of the race for me and then I dropped back down the field but from the team perspective at least one car got into the points. But now we want to go even higher in Australia. I think there is still potential to improve everything and get close to the top five or six.
From your perspective how was the racing in Bahrain?
Well, after the start I dropped down to 21st position and I came 12th at the end of the race so it shows that you can overtake and have a good race. OK, some of the cars I passed were the new teams and we had a performance advantage over them, but in the midpoint of the race I was fighting with Kubica [Renault] and the two Saubers so you can pass with the new regulations, it was just higher up the field that people were very cautious. But then at the first race of the year you never know really how everything will behave in race trim. You do long run simulations in testing, but until you have the field around you it's can never be 100% representative. Under these circumstances it's natural to take care as you don't want to be a DNF in the first race. But last year's Bahrain Grand Prix was also not that interesting, with only refuelling and pit stops so never really overtaking possibilities. I think every driver was a bit cautious as it was the first race and we had to go a long distance on the soft tyre and nobody really knew the best way to call it. Now we will go to Australia and tweak it a bit more to the limit and start to be a more aggressive. I think there will be some more overtaking.
Looking to Australia now, what are your thoughts on the Albert Park circuit?
It's one of my favourites. It's quite a nice street circuit with a few run off areas through a park so it's very beautiful. But it's also very challenging with a lot of quick corners and a few slow speed corners so altogether it's a great circuit to race on. I also have a lot of history there - I made my race debut for Spyker at the track in 2007, it was where Force India made their race debut the next year and then last year I was ninth. If we can get that position again this year that's two points! We've got to aim for this or higher - I'm pretty happy with where we were in qualifying and how we performed in the Bahrain race so we've got a lot of reasons to look forward to Australia now.
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
Tonio, Bahrain was a great result for you and the team. How was it from your perspective?
Overall the whole weekend was positive. We learned a lot about the tyres and how they perform in the warm temperatures and also how far we can push the fuel in the race. I was a bit disappointed with qualifying in that we never got a clear lap, but the race was encouraging and was a great result for the team and myself. The team has worked so hard over the winter to find improvements and never gave up pushing so to get two points in the first race is fantastic. They are a team that is focussed, knows what they are doing and how to get there so they really deserve it to have good results on a regular basis. This is just the start.
There are some new upgrades coming for Australia as well. Do you think this could push you further up the field?
We have some new developments on the front and rear wing. I'm pretty hopeful it will be a step forward as every upgrade we made last year was positive, so the correlation from the wind tunnel seems to be working well. Of course you never know what the others are bringing but I would hope this would move us a little closer to the teams in front. My target would be to get into Q3 this time out and then, of course, get into the points again.
Australia will be a twilight race again, with the start at 17:00hrs. From a driver's perspective is this an issue or a particular challenge?
It wasn't a real problem last year - there was just one corner where the sun was very low and it was maybe a bit harder to see but everywhere else it was OK. The real challenge is that it can be critical with the temperature as the sun goes down and when you are on the harder tyre you start to have warm-up problems. But I think Bridgestone have worked on this now and so I am not worried about this. We'll look through the findings from Bahrain and see what we can do.
Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
How was Bahrain for you?
Bahrain was a genuinely interesting experience. I've been to F1 races before but always as an observer, I've never been so involved in a team. A lot of the time was spent attending meetings, speaking with the engineers and learning how the team functions over a race meeting. It's a professional team and I've learnt a lot about how to approach the car, deal with the systems and the procedures and also what the team needs from me in terms of feedback and support. They've made me very welcome and I'm looking forward to putting it all into practice when I get my chance in Australia.
It your first time out in free practice in the VJM03 this weekend? What are your thoughts ahead of this?
I am excited, for sure. Given the pace of the car in Bahrain it's a great opportunity for me at this stage. I've never been to Melbourne but I'll walk the track with the engineers on the Wednesday ahead of the race and work with them to be able to do some useful work during the session. At the end of the day I'm not going to come out and try and set fastest times - it's about feeding my information back into the race schedule, helping the team and learning as much as I can. If I set a good time, great, but we need to approach this as a team as well and work through our programme.
How have you been preparing for the task ahead?
I've been in the simulator, tried to learn the Albert Park layout and I've looked over all the information from Bahrain so I feel as prepared as I can be at this stage. As I say when we get to Australia I'll be walking the track, working with the engineers and then keeping my focus during the practice session. I feel ready and can't wait to get started; it's a great opportunity.
The team has reason to be optimistic for the next race as new aero developments will be introduced, while test and reserve Paul di Resta will make his free practice debut on Friday. The young Scot will replace Adrian Sutil in FP1 as he seeks to gain further track time and experience behind the wheel of the VJM03.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
In Bahrain Tonio finished ninth and 'best of the rest' behind the eight cars from the four pacesetting teams. Were you satisfied with that?
It's what our objective was over the winter. We set ourselves an internal objective of finishing fifth in the World Championship. I know there's a long way to go, but it's a right start. We've got a solid car to start with, and we've got a good base, and now it's about the development rate for the rest of the year. It was fantastic for Tonio to have scored points for the first time since 2007. Adrian's second fastest lap means there's also some good for him to take out of the race too. I think we all acknowledge that last year our progress was sporadic - on some tracks we were very quick, on others not so good - so to come out this strongly is a really good step forward. With the new upgrades we have in the pipeline for Australia I can say with every faith that we can carry the momentum forward.
Paul di Resta will be driving one of the cars on Friday in Australia. What is the thinking behind that?
Paul is a very good driver and has a lot of potential. But as a third driver the question is how he can use this potential if there's no testing in-season. This is a good solution all round, he can learn the car and the tracks in real time and therefore spend his simulator time helping to develop the car, which will be of real benefit to us. The race drivers are very supportive of the move - they've all been young drivers one time!
How has the reaction been in India to the team's success?
Formula One is growing by leaps and bounds in India. Firstly they have an Indian team and now, in the form of Karun Chandhok, they have an Indian driver. The fans now have genuine interest to hold on to. Sure, people were aware of the big legends of the sport - Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton - but for them to have tangible, identifiable properties is the difference between a minority sport and national interest. With the Indian Grand Prix now looking very promising it's really building - you've got these heroes and now you can go and watch them too. You can see the interest growing day by day, on our social networking site we've got more than one million followers.
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
How would you review Bahrain?
I think it was a very good start to the season. We were very competitive in free practice; I was quickest in FP1, and then again in qualifying where both Tonio and I were in the top 12. Last year we didn't get through to Q2 in Bahrain so to come out and be in the top 12 is really positive. Everything went well until the start of the race for me and then I dropped back down the field but from the team perspective at least one car got into the points. But now we want to go even higher in Australia. I think there is still potential to improve everything and get close to the top five or six.
From your perspective how was the racing in Bahrain?
Well, after the start I dropped down to 21st position and I came 12th at the end of the race so it shows that you can overtake and have a good race. OK, some of the cars I passed were the new teams and we had a performance advantage over them, but in the midpoint of the race I was fighting with Kubica [Renault] and the two Saubers so you can pass with the new regulations, it was just higher up the field that people were very cautious. But then at the first race of the year you never know really how everything will behave in race trim. You do long run simulations in testing, but until you have the field around you it's can never be 100% representative. Under these circumstances it's natural to take care as you don't want to be a DNF in the first race. But last year's Bahrain Grand Prix was also not that interesting, with only refuelling and pit stops so never really overtaking possibilities. I think every driver was a bit cautious as it was the first race and we had to go a long distance on the soft tyre and nobody really knew the best way to call it. Now we will go to Australia and tweak it a bit more to the limit and start to be a more aggressive. I think there will be some more overtaking.
Looking to Australia now, what are your thoughts on the Albert Park circuit?
It's one of my favourites. It's quite a nice street circuit with a few run off areas through a park so it's very beautiful. But it's also very challenging with a lot of quick corners and a few slow speed corners so altogether it's a great circuit to race on. I also have a lot of history there - I made my race debut for Spyker at the track in 2007, it was where Force India made their race debut the next year and then last year I was ninth. If we can get that position again this year that's two points! We've got to aim for this or higher - I'm pretty happy with where we were in qualifying and how we performed in the Bahrain race so we've got a lot of reasons to look forward to Australia now.
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
Tonio, Bahrain was a great result for you and the team. How was it from your perspective?
Overall the whole weekend was positive. We learned a lot about the tyres and how they perform in the warm temperatures and also how far we can push the fuel in the race. I was a bit disappointed with qualifying in that we never got a clear lap, but the race was encouraging and was a great result for the team and myself. The team has worked so hard over the winter to find improvements and never gave up pushing so to get two points in the first race is fantastic. They are a team that is focussed, knows what they are doing and how to get there so they really deserve it to have good results on a regular basis. This is just the start.
There are some new upgrades coming for Australia as well. Do you think this could push you further up the field?
We have some new developments on the front and rear wing. I'm pretty hopeful it will be a step forward as every upgrade we made last year was positive, so the correlation from the wind tunnel seems to be working well. Of course you never know what the others are bringing but I would hope this would move us a little closer to the teams in front. My target would be to get into Q3 this time out and then, of course, get into the points again.
Australia will be a twilight race again, with the start at 17:00hrs. From a driver's perspective is this an issue or a particular challenge?
It wasn't a real problem last year - there was just one corner where the sun was very low and it was maybe a bit harder to see but everywhere else it was OK. The real challenge is that it can be critical with the temperature as the sun goes down and when you are on the harder tyre you start to have warm-up problems. But I think Bridgestone have worked on this now and so I am not worried about this. We'll look through the findings from Bahrain and see what we can do.
Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
How was Bahrain for you?
Bahrain was a genuinely interesting experience. I've been to F1 races before but always as an observer, I've never been so involved in a team. A lot of the time was spent attending meetings, speaking with the engineers and learning how the team functions over a race meeting. It's a professional team and I've learnt a lot about how to approach the car, deal with the systems and the procedures and also what the team needs from me in terms of feedback and support. They've made me very welcome and I'm looking forward to putting it all into practice when I get my chance in Australia.
It your first time out in free practice in the VJM03 this weekend? What are your thoughts ahead of this?
I am excited, for sure. Given the pace of the car in Bahrain it's a great opportunity for me at this stage. I've never been to Melbourne but I'll walk the track with the engineers on the Wednesday ahead of the race and work with them to be able to do some useful work during the session. At the end of the day I'm not going to come out and try and set fastest times - it's about feeding my information back into the race schedule, helping the team and learning as much as I can. If I set a good time, great, but we need to approach this as a team as well and work through our programme.
How have you been preparing for the task ahead?
I've been in the simulator, tried to learn the Albert Park layout and I've looked over all the information from Bahrain so I feel as prepared as I can be at this stage. As I say when we get to Australia I'll be walking the track, working with the engineers and then keeping my focus during the practice session. I feel ready and can't wait to get started; it's a great opportunity.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
2010 Force India report
The Force India F1 Team has opened its points account at the first race of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Force India at the Bahrain Grand Prix 2010Tonio Liuzzi drove a faultless race, matching the pace of the Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes cars, to secure ninth position. With the implementation of a new points system this year, Tonio has chalked up two points - marking his first points since the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix and Force India's first points since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.
Adrian Sutil was unfortunate to finish out of the points in 12th position. The German spun on the first lap when a cloud of smoke from the back of Mark Webber's car completely blocked his vision and he made light contact with Robert Kubica. The incident was enough for him to spin to the rear of the field, but he pushed hard to make up several places and was closing on the top ten in the latter stages. He did have some consolation of posting the second quickest lap of the race.
Adrian Sutil (car 14)
At least we finished. After the incident in the first corner it was the maximum we could do. We had a good race in the end, learning a lot about the tyres and how the car behaves at the end of a race, but the incident pretty much destroyed my hopes of getting any points. I don't really know what happened in that corner - I was driving and then there was a big cloud of smoke so I was blind going into it. I touched someone and spun and that was it. It's a shame but we will keep pushing for the next race.
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
I'm really pleased. We achieved our target and scored some points, which is a great result for myself and for the team. It was a difficult race as with this amount of fuel and the tyres, plus the heat, we had a bit to control but overall I think we can be pretty happy about how we handled it and to be in the points is magic. All the top teams finished ahead of us and there were no failures or reliability issues so it was the maximum we could have achieved. I'm now looking forward to Australia where we will get some more updates and it could put us in an even better position for the next race. Overall a great result for the team.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What a great start to the season! I am absolutely delighted that we have scored in the first race of the season. It was always our aim to score points and we knew we had the pace to do it, but nevertheless to finally get there gives a great feeling. Tonio drove a superb race, matching the pace of the top teams in front, and it is certainly encouraging for the coming races. Adrian was unlucky and I know he will be disappointed not to have been able to capitalise on his starting position, but the season is long and he is hungry so I do not think he will have to wait long for his turn.
Force India at the Bahrain Grand Prix 2010Tonio Liuzzi drove a faultless race, matching the pace of the Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes cars, to secure ninth position. With the implementation of a new points system this year, Tonio has chalked up two points - marking his first points since the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix and Force India's first points since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.
Adrian Sutil was unfortunate to finish out of the points in 12th position. The German spun on the first lap when a cloud of smoke from the back of Mark Webber's car completely blocked his vision and he made light contact with Robert Kubica. The incident was enough for him to spin to the rear of the field, but he pushed hard to make up several places and was closing on the top ten in the latter stages. He did have some consolation of posting the second quickest lap of the race.
Adrian Sutil (car 14)
At least we finished. After the incident in the first corner it was the maximum we could do. We had a good race in the end, learning a lot about the tyres and how the car behaves at the end of a race, but the incident pretty much destroyed my hopes of getting any points. I don't really know what happened in that corner - I was driving and then there was a big cloud of smoke so I was blind going into it. I touched someone and spun and that was it. It's a shame but we will keep pushing for the next race.
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
I'm really pleased. We achieved our target and scored some points, which is a great result for myself and for the team. It was a difficult race as with this amount of fuel and the tyres, plus the heat, we had a bit to control but overall I think we can be pretty happy about how we handled it and to be in the points is magic. All the top teams finished ahead of us and there were no failures or reliability issues so it was the maximum we could have achieved. I'm now looking forward to Australia where we will get some more updates and it could put us in an even better position for the next race. Overall a great result for the team.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What a great start to the season! I am absolutely delighted that we have scored in the first race of the season. It was always our aim to score points and we knew we had the pace to do it, but nevertheless to finally get there gives a great feeling. Tonio drove a superb race, matching the pace of the top teams in front, and it is certainly encouraging for the coming races. Adrian was unlucky and I know he will be disappointed not to have been able to capitalise on his starting position, but the season is long and he is hungry so I do not think he will have to wait long for his turn.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Force India discuss the preparations for the 2010 season
Adrian Sutil.
The key point was last year at the beginning of the season we had a good baseline car but not enough downforce and we knew that it was all a little late, but then we improved over the season and the second half was very successful and sometimes we even had a winning car for certain races. Really with that car we went into the winter and developed it as best as possible, again with a few new rule changes, but we were on a very good level already and now we just improved, mainly on downforce. We have no other difficulties in the team so very consistent in everything, all the business all round, and that I think it's the key to improve your car and to be ready for the first races.
Tonio Liuzzi
In my five years of F1 this is definitely the best car I've driven, it’s the most balanced, and knowing that has made me feel so much stronger and confident. Of course you can never know exactly where you are compared to the others but we can go to Bahrain feeling optimistic and positive.
Paul di Resta
I have to say I am getting very excited about [Bahrain]. It's the start of a new year for me, a very exciting one, and being part of Force India. Bahrain is a great place to open it and I'm sure it's going to be thrilling, with a lot of different challenges up ahead of us and also to understand fully where the car has been over the winter and going from that. It's going to be a different year, certainly, but one I think that everyone is very excited to see the outcome of and where they will have their mindset for the rest of the year.
Mark Smith.
On testing:
In summary we've learnt we have a well-balanced, stable car with no traits limiting it, we just need to keep adding performance as best we can. I would say we are in a mid-grid position and from that position we can seek to go forward and capitalise within the race, hopefully finishing in the points as often as we can.
On Bahrain:
The package for Bahrain is a reasonable step up from the package the car was launched with initially and we ran that new package for the last two days of the Barcelona test. It is predominantly an aero step on the front and rear wings and on the diffuser of the car.
Andy Stevenson.
We are pleased with our preparation: you are always looking to see where you are compared to your competitors, but we went into pre-season testing with a certain aim where we had goals we wanted to achieve and we reached them with the exact mileage we were looking to do, and we got the times we had predicted. Our preparation has gone very, very well. Until you get to Bahrain it's always difficult to know where you stand compared to others but we are going there in the best position we've been in for a long, long time.
The drivers are very happy and both have worked really hard over the winter. I've never seen two drivers look as fit as they do physically, they are both mentally prepared for it. They learnt a lot from last year, both Tonio and Adrian, as we had a car that was towards the front of the field at the end of the year... it was a new experience for them. They've taken it away over the winter, they've thought about it, learnt from it and we've analysed their performances as well and we are starting in a position that I would consider a lot stronger from the one in which we finished [last year].
The key point was last year at the beginning of the season we had a good baseline car but not enough downforce and we knew that it was all a little late, but then we improved over the season and the second half was very successful and sometimes we even had a winning car for certain races. Really with that car we went into the winter and developed it as best as possible, again with a few new rule changes, but we were on a very good level already and now we just improved, mainly on downforce. We have no other difficulties in the team so very consistent in everything, all the business all round, and that I think it's the key to improve your car and to be ready for the first races.
Tonio Liuzzi
In my five years of F1 this is definitely the best car I've driven, it’s the most balanced, and knowing that has made me feel so much stronger and confident. Of course you can never know exactly where you are compared to the others but we can go to Bahrain feeling optimistic and positive.
Paul di Resta
I have to say I am getting very excited about [Bahrain]. It's the start of a new year for me, a very exciting one, and being part of Force India. Bahrain is a great place to open it and I'm sure it's going to be thrilling, with a lot of different challenges up ahead of us and also to understand fully where the car has been over the winter and going from that. It's going to be a different year, certainly, but one I think that everyone is very excited to see the outcome of and where they will have their mindset for the rest of the year.
Mark Smith.
On testing:
In summary we've learnt we have a well-balanced, stable car with no traits limiting it, we just need to keep adding performance as best we can. I would say we are in a mid-grid position and from that position we can seek to go forward and capitalise within the race, hopefully finishing in the points as often as we can.
On Bahrain:
The package for Bahrain is a reasonable step up from the package the car was launched with initially and we ran that new package for the last two days of the Barcelona test. It is predominantly an aero step on the front and rear wings and on the diffuser of the car.
Andy Stevenson.
We are pleased with our preparation: you are always looking to see where you are compared to your competitors, but we went into pre-season testing with a certain aim where we had goals we wanted to achieve and we reached them with the exact mileage we were looking to do, and we got the times we had predicted. Our preparation has gone very, very well. Until you get to Bahrain it's always difficult to know where you stand compared to others but we are going there in the best position we've been in for a long, long time.
The drivers are very happy and both have worked really hard over the winter. I've never seen two drivers look as fit as they do physically, they are both mentally prepared for it. They learnt a lot from last year, both Tonio and Adrian, as we had a car that was towards the front of the field at the end of the year... it was a new experience for them. They've taken it away over the winter, they've thought about it, learnt from it and we've analysed their performances as well and we are starting in a position that I would consider a lot stronger from the one in which we finished [last year].
2010 Mercedes, Lotus and Force India looking forward to Bahrain.
The 2010 Formula One Season gets underway in Bahrain next week and marks the return the Mercedes-Benz works team to the sport for the first time in 55 years. The Mercedes Formula One Team goes into the season with the prestige of being the current Constructors’ World Champions, led by Team Principal Ross Brawn, and with one of the most exciting driver line-ups on the grid as seven-times World Champion Michael Schumacher returns to the sport to partner the talented Nico Rosberg.
Michael Schumacher
“Finally the season will start! I feel like a child looking forward to Christmas. The decision to make my comeback feels like a long time ago now and I can hardly wait for the season to get underway in Bahrain. It’s funny to think that I will be competing in Formula One again when just a few months ago, I would have declined the opportunity categorically. But sometimes things change and the right circumstances come together. I feel fresher than I have for many years. I am perfectly prepared physically and most importantly, my energy is back completely. When I retired from racing in 2006, my batteries were simply empty. Now they are totally recharged and I am ready for the challenge. It is the competition at the highest level that only Formula One offers which has provided the temptation for me. It is always difficult to predict the form in pre-season testing, this year more than ever, but the final test in Barcelona proved to us that we should be competitive. We know that we will have more new parts in Bahrain which should bring extra performance to the car. It’s important to be in the leading group from the start of the season and I am confident that we will be there.”
Nico Rosberg
“The build-up to a new Formula One season is always an exciting time, particularly when you have a new team to settle into and a brand new car to get used to. It has been a really nice process integrating into the Mercedes. Everyone has been very welcoming and I feel very much at home here already. Our pre-season testing programme has gone pretty well in February. We did have some concerns that we were not able to find the right direction to extract the maximum potential from the car but by working hard, we were able to find our way and ended testing on a high. We also have a good upgrade coming for Bahrain which should develop the car further and so I am quite optimistic that we will do well. Bahrain is a track which I really enjoy so it should be a good start to the season all in all.”
Ross Brawn
“Everyone at Mercedes is proud to be representing the rich motorsport pedigree of Mercedes-Benz as we start the season as the first Mercedes works team for over half a century. In addition, knowing that we go into the new season as the reigning World Champions gives the team confidence and a fierce pride to defend our position. However this is a new season and a new challenge. We had a strong pre-season testing programme with the MGP W01 but we are not quite reached the level of preparation that we would have liked prior to Bahrain. The car shows promise and we have a strong development programme planned for the season but there is a lot of hard work ahead to ensure that we will be in the fight for the title. I am very pleased with how our new drivers Michael and Nico have settled into the team and developed a close working relationship. They have really pushed the development of the car throughout testing and they will push each other to achieve better results on the race track. This season should be a fantastic one for the fans with so many talented drivers competing and what is likely to be a very close fight for the title between the top teams and that can only be good for our sport.”
Norbert Haug
“The Bahrain Grand Prix as the first race of the 2010 Formula One season marks the beginning of a new era for Mercedes-Benz. 55 years after the last race of the Silver Arrows works team, Mercedes will start to continue this tradition. In preparation for our first season, we have covered over 6300 kilometres during 15 test days from 1 to 28 February. Judging our competitiveness for the first couple of races, my impression is that we are not quite where we want to be and I would not see our team in the role of favourites. Having said that, I am fully convinced that the whole team and our drivers Nico and Michael are fully prepared to get on top of our job and fulfil our targets which are winning races and fighting for world championships.”
Force India pic Sutton Images
Bahrain Grand Prix - Force India 2001 - Sutton Images2010 marks the third year of competition in the FIA Formula One World Championship for the Force India F1 Team. After a positive finish to 2009, the team is hoping this season will be the one that firmly establishes it as a strong, competitive outfit regularly challenging for points and podiums whenever possible.
Consistency has been the key this year: Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi are retained as drivers and the team's technical package is an evolution of last year's increasingly competitive car. Paul di Resta, from Scotland, strengthens the driver line-up as test and reserve driver. Paul will participate in some free practice sessions this year, although not Bahrain as the race drivers will need to learn the new track configuration.
Over winter testing the team fared well, completing 12 days of testing and more than 4,000km and is now looking forward to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Team Q&A
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What are your thoughts ahead of what could be a crucial season for Force India?
We finished 2009 on a real high note - our first-ever points, a podium and one place up in the constructors' championship. That is enough in itself to set the bar much higher this season, but we're really determined to take it to the next level. Regular points and the odd podium have got to be the aim and we know it is possible. I have a lot of faith in the drivers and the technical staff, I think we've got into a very good rhythm together now.
Have you been encouraged by the performance over the winter?
I have been very encouraged by the entire performance, both at the track and at the factory. The testing times gave very positive headlines, but it is very difficult to know where we are until we get to Bahrain. Certainly however the initial reports from the drivers are encouraging and when that happens it's worth another three to four tenths - if they feel happy and confident in the car then that they can really attack.
What is it that has made the difference this year for Force India?
The key point was that last year we had a good baseline car and we improved throughout the year in a very structured manner. In the second part of the season we were very successful - at times we even had a potential winning car - and with that in mind we went into the winter and developed this foundation as much as possible. That stability is crucial and we have been able to focus 100% on emphasising the strong points while addressing the weaker areas. I think Mark [Smith] and his team have done an excellent job.
Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
Adrian, you've now finished the VJM03's winter testing programme - how did this go?
The baseline car we have now after 12 days of testing looks very good and promising. The changes we have made during the winter have all had a positive effect. Testing went well and although there was a lot of rain over the period, the last two days in Barcelona were OK. We did our long runs and a lot of work with the tyres so we are fully prepared. We are pretty confident that our car is good enough to be in the top ten in Bahrain.
From the testing, it is possible to see how the competition is faring?
You can see a little bit, but you can't be 100% sure as you never know what the other teams are doing with their programme. That said, you can tell that some of the big teams like McLaren and Ferrari look very strong on both the long runs and qualifying runs and are always on the top of the timesheets. I am expecting them to be on the top again in the race weekend but we are not far away and that's a really good sign.
One new addition to the team is a new team-mate for you in the form of Paul di Resta. You've raced against him before?
Yes, it was a long time ago, but in F3 in 2005 we raced against each other. I think he is a very good driver and it's great to have him on board in the team as he can help develop the car with us. He will do some Friday sessions too so will get some experience, it's a good opportunity for everyone.
Looking forward to Bahrain, what would be a good result for you?
Hopefully in the top ten and I think that should be possible. I would hope we could score a few points. For everything else, it is very difficult to say what else will happen, but I am fine with any position within the top 10 - that's my goal for the moment.
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
You covered a lot of kilometres in pre-season testing. How did that go for you?
I had five and a half days in the car and I learnt a lot of things about the car over this time. We had several test items to get to the optimum level for the start of the season and generally every item we tested had a positive effect. The car responds very well to any change, it's definitely going in the right direction. For sure the weather didn't help, but fortunately the car showed formidable reliability and performance, so in my mind there is a really strong preparation for Bahrain and the rest of the season.
How would you judge this car compared to the other cars you have driven in your career?
In my five years of F1 this is definitely the best car I've driven, It's the most balanced, and knowing that has made me feel so much stronger and confident. Of course you can never know exactly where you are compared to the others but we can go to Bahrain feeling optimistic and positive.
And Bahrain has a new track lay-out. Have you had a chance to look at this?
I've had a look on Google earth and on the simulator. I think they have just made it much longer and slower and I'm not a big fan of this type of track as I love high speed corners and circuits. I don't think there will be any more overtaking opportunities as the track goes through too tight an area. But it's the same for everybody and we need to get used it. We'll see when we walk the track on Thursday.
What are your aims for this race?
For the first race we want to show that our winter work has paid off. Points are our target for the time being and getting into the top ten, as high as possible. Being realistic, a few points should be feasible and hopefully everything goes as well as in testing with good reliability for the first race.
Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
Paul, it must have been a bit of a whirlwind since February when you were announced as the test and reserve driver. What have you been doing since then?
It's certainly been busy! I've been in Spain during all the F1 tests and it's been quite a hectic schedule with three tests in three weeks. I've also spent some time at the factory, getting to know the team and the engineers and generally settling in. I had two half days in the car in quite difficult rainy conditions, which was not ideal, but I did at least learn about what to expect when it does rain and how to find that level when you need to change tyres: hopefully it's something I will have to deal with later in my career. But it's nice to get a feeling for the car going into the season, the strong points and how we deal with weaker spots. Any experience for me at the moment is valuable.
You've also been testing the DTM cars as well, sometimes switching literally overnight. How has that been going - has it given you a taster of how things will go this year when you are swapping F1 for DTM?
F1 and DTM are quite different to each other but so far I have done a switch from F1 to DTM and then one back again. The last time I didn't even notice it had happened, so already I am learning how to deal with it. Both cars require a different mindset but I am sure I will be able to do it with more experience without really having to think about it.
What are your feelings heading into Bahrain?
For sure I am very excited. It's a great thrill to be going there as part of an F1 team. Although I'm not going to be driving during free practice, Bahrain is a great track, I've raced there before in F3, and I can't wait to get on the plane and head off for the first weekend. I'm realistic there are lots of challenges ahead of us and only in Bahrain will we really know where car is on the field, but everyone is very excited to see this. I can't wait.
Lotus Racing Set For Bahrain
Lotus heading to Bahrain 2010 - pic Lotus RacingBy 3am on Saturday morning Lotus Racing had finally finished packing up the six airfreight boxes needed for the journey to Bahrain and the beginning of the 2010 Formula One TM season. Two cars and a 60-strong team have now made their way to the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Bahrain International Circuit for the first race of much anticipated 2010 season.
On 12th September 2009 Lotus Racing gained entry onto the grid. As the team gears up for the first Grand Prix, the whole team, including the drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, remain upbeat and honest about their expectations for the first few races. Trulli commented, "It would be nice to score a point, but it is not going to be easy. We have to be realistic."
Chief Technical Officer, Mike Gascoyne said, "Our test season was extremely productive - in general we've had very good reliability, and the team is in very good shape going to the first race."
Lotus Racing remain confident of their continuing progress. Team Principle Tony Fernandes commented, "We are all looking forward to Bahrain; to have Lotus Racing on the grid will be a momentous occasion for all involved and, indeed, for our fans, whose support has been absolutely fantastic since we launched just under six months ago. Yes we are a little slower than the major leading teams, however we will get there, with passion, hard work and a clear vision - our aim for this first Grand Prix will be to finish and steadily but surely improve, race by race."
Lotus Racing will spend the week preparing in Bahrain and look forward to hitting the track in anger for the first practice session on Friday, exactly six months to the day after gaining their entry place into 2010 Formula One World Championship.
Michael Schumacher
“Finally the season will start! I feel like a child looking forward to Christmas. The decision to make my comeback feels like a long time ago now and I can hardly wait for the season to get underway in Bahrain. It’s funny to think that I will be competing in Formula One again when just a few months ago, I would have declined the opportunity categorically. But sometimes things change and the right circumstances come together. I feel fresher than I have for many years. I am perfectly prepared physically and most importantly, my energy is back completely. When I retired from racing in 2006, my batteries were simply empty. Now they are totally recharged and I am ready for the challenge. It is the competition at the highest level that only Formula One offers which has provided the temptation for me. It is always difficult to predict the form in pre-season testing, this year more than ever, but the final test in Barcelona proved to us that we should be competitive. We know that we will have more new parts in Bahrain which should bring extra performance to the car. It’s important to be in the leading group from the start of the season and I am confident that we will be there.”
Nico Rosberg
“The build-up to a new Formula One season is always an exciting time, particularly when you have a new team to settle into and a brand new car to get used to. It has been a really nice process integrating into the Mercedes. Everyone has been very welcoming and I feel very much at home here already. Our pre-season testing programme has gone pretty well in February. We did have some concerns that we were not able to find the right direction to extract the maximum potential from the car but by working hard, we were able to find our way and ended testing on a high. We also have a good upgrade coming for Bahrain which should develop the car further and so I am quite optimistic that we will do well. Bahrain is a track which I really enjoy so it should be a good start to the season all in all.”
Ross Brawn
“Everyone at Mercedes is proud to be representing the rich motorsport pedigree of Mercedes-Benz as we start the season as the first Mercedes works team for over half a century. In addition, knowing that we go into the new season as the reigning World Champions gives the team confidence and a fierce pride to defend our position. However this is a new season and a new challenge. We had a strong pre-season testing programme with the MGP W01 but we are not quite reached the level of preparation that we would have liked prior to Bahrain. The car shows promise and we have a strong development programme planned for the season but there is a lot of hard work ahead to ensure that we will be in the fight for the title. I am very pleased with how our new drivers Michael and Nico have settled into the team and developed a close working relationship. They have really pushed the development of the car throughout testing and they will push each other to achieve better results on the race track. This season should be a fantastic one for the fans with so many talented drivers competing and what is likely to be a very close fight for the title between the top teams and that can only be good for our sport.”
Norbert Haug
“The Bahrain Grand Prix as the first race of the 2010 Formula One season marks the beginning of a new era for Mercedes-Benz. 55 years after the last race of the Silver Arrows works team, Mercedes will start to continue this tradition. In preparation for our first season, we have covered over 6300 kilometres during 15 test days from 1 to 28 February. Judging our competitiveness for the first couple of races, my impression is that we are not quite where we want to be and I would not see our team in the role of favourites. Having said that, I am fully convinced that the whole team and our drivers Nico and Michael are fully prepared to get on top of our job and fulfil our targets which are winning races and fighting for world championships.”
Force India pic Sutton Images
Bahrain Grand Prix - Force India 2001 - Sutton Images2010 marks the third year of competition in the FIA Formula One World Championship for the Force India F1 Team. After a positive finish to 2009, the team is hoping this season will be the one that firmly establishes it as a strong, competitive outfit regularly challenging for points and podiums whenever possible.
Consistency has been the key this year: Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi are retained as drivers and the team's technical package is an evolution of last year's increasingly competitive car. Paul di Resta, from Scotland, strengthens the driver line-up as test and reserve driver. Paul will participate in some free practice sessions this year, although not Bahrain as the race drivers will need to learn the new track configuration.
Over winter testing the team fared well, completing 12 days of testing and more than 4,000km and is now looking forward to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Team Q&A
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What are your thoughts ahead of what could be a crucial season for Force India?
We finished 2009 on a real high note - our first-ever points, a podium and one place up in the constructors' championship. That is enough in itself to set the bar much higher this season, but we're really determined to take it to the next level. Regular points and the odd podium have got to be the aim and we know it is possible. I have a lot of faith in the drivers and the technical staff, I think we've got into a very good rhythm together now.
Have you been encouraged by the performance over the winter?
I have been very encouraged by the entire performance, both at the track and at the factory. The testing times gave very positive headlines, but it is very difficult to know where we are until we get to Bahrain. Certainly however the initial reports from the drivers are encouraging and when that happens it's worth another three to four tenths - if they feel happy and confident in the car then that they can really attack.
What is it that has made the difference this year for Force India?
The key point was that last year we had a good baseline car and we improved throughout the year in a very structured manner. In the second part of the season we were very successful - at times we even had a potential winning car - and with that in mind we went into the winter and developed this foundation as much as possible. That stability is crucial and we have been able to focus 100% on emphasising the strong points while addressing the weaker areas. I think Mark [Smith] and his team have done an excellent job.
Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
Adrian, you've now finished the VJM03's winter testing programme - how did this go?
The baseline car we have now after 12 days of testing looks very good and promising. The changes we have made during the winter have all had a positive effect. Testing went well and although there was a lot of rain over the period, the last two days in Barcelona were OK. We did our long runs and a lot of work with the tyres so we are fully prepared. We are pretty confident that our car is good enough to be in the top ten in Bahrain.
From the testing, it is possible to see how the competition is faring?
You can see a little bit, but you can't be 100% sure as you never know what the other teams are doing with their programme. That said, you can tell that some of the big teams like McLaren and Ferrari look very strong on both the long runs and qualifying runs and are always on the top of the timesheets. I am expecting them to be on the top again in the race weekend but we are not far away and that's a really good sign.
One new addition to the team is a new team-mate for you in the form of Paul di Resta. You've raced against him before?
Yes, it was a long time ago, but in F3 in 2005 we raced against each other. I think he is a very good driver and it's great to have him on board in the team as he can help develop the car with us. He will do some Friday sessions too so will get some experience, it's a good opportunity for everyone.
Looking forward to Bahrain, what would be a good result for you?
Hopefully in the top ten and I think that should be possible. I would hope we could score a few points. For everything else, it is very difficult to say what else will happen, but I am fine with any position within the top 10 - that's my goal for the moment.
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
You covered a lot of kilometres in pre-season testing. How did that go for you?
I had five and a half days in the car and I learnt a lot of things about the car over this time. We had several test items to get to the optimum level for the start of the season and generally every item we tested had a positive effect. The car responds very well to any change, it's definitely going in the right direction. For sure the weather didn't help, but fortunately the car showed formidable reliability and performance, so in my mind there is a really strong preparation for Bahrain and the rest of the season.
How would you judge this car compared to the other cars you have driven in your career?
In my five years of F1 this is definitely the best car I've driven, It's the most balanced, and knowing that has made me feel so much stronger and confident. Of course you can never know exactly where you are compared to the others but we can go to Bahrain feeling optimistic and positive.
And Bahrain has a new track lay-out. Have you had a chance to look at this?
I've had a look on Google earth and on the simulator. I think they have just made it much longer and slower and I'm not a big fan of this type of track as I love high speed corners and circuits. I don't think there will be any more overtaking opportunities as the track goes through too tight an area. But it's the same for everybody and we need to get used it. We'll see when we walk the track on Thursday.
What are your aims for this race?
For the first race we want to show that our winter work has paid off. Points are our target for the time being and getting into the top ten, as high as possible. Being realistic, a few points should be feasible and hopefully everything goes as well as in testing with good reliability for the first race.
Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
Paul, it must have been a bit of a whirlwind since February when you were announced as the test and reserve driver. What have you been doing since then?
It's certainly been busy! I've been in Spain during all the F1 tests and it's been quite a hectic schedule with three tests in three weeks. I've also spent some time at the factory, getting to know the team and the engineers and generally settling in. I had two half days in the car in quite difficult rainy conditions, which was not ideal, but I did at least learn about what to expect when it does rain and how to find that level when you need to change tyres: hopefully it's something I will have to deal with later in my career. But it's nice to get a feeling for the car going into the season, the strong points and how we deal with weaker spots. Any experience for me at the moment is valuable.
You've also been testing the DTM cars as well, sometimes switching literally overnight. How has that been going - has it given you a taster of how things will go this year when you are swapping F1 for DTM?
F1 and DTM are quite different to each other but so far I have done a switch from F1 to DTM and then one back again. The last time I didn't even notice it had happened, so already I am learning how to deal with it. Both cars require a different mindset but I am sure I will be able to do it with more experience without really having to think about it.
What are your feelings heading into Bahrain?
For sure I am very excited. It's a great thrill to be going there as part of an F1 team. Although I'm not going to be driving during free practice, Bahrain is a great track, I've raced there before in F3, and I can't wait to get on the plane and head off for the first weekend. I'm realistic there are lots of challenges ahead of us and only in Bahrain will we really know where car is on the field, but everyone is very excited to see this. I can't wait.
Lotus Racing Set For Bahrain
Lotus heading to Bahrain 2010 - pic Lotus RacingBy 3am on Saturday morning Lotus Racing had finally finished packing up the six airfreight boxes needed for the journey to Bahrain and the beginning of the 2010 Formula One TM season. Two cars and a 60-strong team have now made their way to the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Bahrain International Circuit for the first race of much anticipated 2010 season.
On 12th September 2009 Lotus Racing gained entry onto the grid. As the team gears up for the first Grand Prix, the whole team, including the drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, remain upbeat and honest about their expectations for the first few races. Trulli commented, "It would be nice to score a point, but it is not going to be easy. We have to be realistic."
Chief Technical Officer, Mike Gascoyne said, "Our test season was extremely productive - in general we've had very good reliability, and the team is in very good shape going to the first race."
Lotus Racing remain confident of their continuing progress. Team Principle Tony Fernandes commented, "We are all looking forward to Bahrain; to have Lotus Racing on the grid will be a momentous occasion for all involved and, indeed, for our fans, whose support has been absolutely fantastic since we launched just under six months ago. Yes we are a little slower than the major leading teams, however we will get there, with passion, hard work and a clear vision - our aim for this first Grand Prix will be to finish and steadily but surely improve, race by race."
Lotus Racing will spend the week preparing in Bahrain and look forward to hitting the track in anger for the first practice session on Friday, exactly six months to the day after gaining their entry place into 2010 Formula One World Championship.
News from the teams on test day three at Barcelona
Force India
Adrian Sutil replaced Tonio Liuzzi in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya today. After a switch to the second race chassis overnight last night, Adrian's morning programme was principally concentrated on baseline runs and set-up checks. Unfortunately when rain fell mid-morning the team was forced to change its afternoon plans to include performance running rather than a race distance as originally scheduled.
Adrian completed just 61 laps as a result, setting the seventh quickest time of the day, a 1:22.606. He will continue the test programme tomorrow.
Adrian Sutil
It was OK today but a little disappointing not to have been able to have more running. Again we have had rain so we had to wait some time to get some decent running. We only got 61 laps as I was hoping for better weather, particularly after last week's test in Jerez. Tomorrow should be better so that's when the real programme can start for me with a race simulation.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
A slight change of plan today when the rain arrived, meaning that Adrian shook down a new chassis, but also completed a number of set-up tests rather than focussing on longer runs. It was difficult to conclude too much because of the track conditions, but we were able to uncover some useful items. With the final day of 2010 winter testing tomorrow expected to be dry, we are planning final race preparation work and aiming to complete as many of our test objectives as possible.
Williams
Rubens Barrichello joined the team in Barcelona today for day three of this week's four day test in Spain. As predicted, rain caused disruptions to this morning's work, and several red flags, but made way for some valuable dry running after the lunch break.
The team concentrated on set-up work with the FW32 in the earlier part of the session, before commencing race simulations in the afternoon. Rubens clocked 101 laps over the course of the day and ended the session in P4 on the time sheets with a 1:21.975.
Rubens will remain on testing duties tomorrow for the final day of the pre-season winter test run.
Sam Michael: Today we had some interruptions caused by rain, but we still managed to achieve just over one hundred laps working on race runs and set-up with Rubens. We're now focussing our attention on some more set-up work for the final day of winter testing.
Rubens Barrichello: We covered 101 laps today, which is always good. Unfortunately, we had some rain during the day which affected the programme a little bit. Everything that the team has brought to this test seems to be working well, so it’s been a positive day altogether.
Renault
Summary of the day: Light rain showers in the morning limited Vitaly’s track time, but the afternoon remained dry allowing the team to complete qualifying simulations and long runs.
Vitaly Petrov: “Another day of changing weather so we lost some time in the morning with the rain, but fortunately it was dry in the afternoon. We had a lot planned as it was my last day in the car before Bahrain and we did some good work and we’ve improved the car quite a bit. The qualifying simulation was useful and it was important I did this before the first race.”
Alan Permane, Chief Engineer: “It was a better day for Vitaly. We had a few issues with the car in the morning that we carried over from yesterday, but we very quickly got on top of them. The car was then much to his liking just before lunch. Unfortunately we had a little bit of rain again this morning, but managed some work in the afternoon carrying various fuel loads and Vitaly finished the day quite happy with the car. It’s a shame that he couldn’t have run a bit more today, but it was good to get a decent day of running.”
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg completed the third day of testing for the Mercedes GP Petronas team at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today to bring his pre-season testing programme to its conclusion.
Nico spent the morning working on qualifying simulations and developing the car set-up before completing a race simulation exercise in the afternoon. Despite intermittent rain showers in the late morning and early afternoon, Nico was able to complete almost 600kms over 128 laps as he set the fastest time of the day, a 1:20.686, during the driest period this morning.
Michael Schumacher will take over the MGP W01 tomorrow for the fourth and final day of the test.
Nico Rosberg: “We had a good day today and made some significant progress in terms of set-up which was nice to see. We hadn’t got the most out of the car in terms of performance over the last couple of days, but we made a step in the right direction today. We went through some big changes this morning step by step and found some good improvements. The longer runs this afternoon were interesting. We learnt a lot as there were other cars running similar programmes at the same time so we were able to do some comparisons. There is still plenty of room to improve but overall we’re looking in pretty good shape.”
Lotus
The morning sunshine gave way to grey conditions and light rain in Barcelona as the Lotus Racing T127 completed a successful third day of testing. By lunchtime Jarno Trulli had already completed 60 laps, and went on consistently throughout the day to finish on a total of 102 laps. The team completed a full race distance and were satisfied with the timings and quality of the day's activity.
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, commented on today's test, saying; "Another productive day with Jarno; over a hundred laps completed with no real mechanical issues and Jarno was able to complete the full race distance in the mix of wet and dry weather.
"We successfully completed our whole programme with the changeable conditions and have had two very useful days with Jarno in the car, with a very clear set up direction from him. Now we're looking forward to further refining the balance of the car with Heikki tomorrow."
Heikki takes the hot seat for the final day's testing before the season starts in earnest in Bahrain.
Adrian Sutil replaced Tonio Liuzzi in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya today. After a switch to the second race chassis overnight last night, Adrian's morning programme was principally concentrated on baseline runs and set-up checks. Unfortunately when rain fell mid-morning the team was forced to change its afternoon plans to include performance running rather than a race distance as originally scheduled.
Adrian completed just 61 laps as a result, setting the seventh quickest time of the day, a 1:22.606. He will continue the test programme tomorrow.
Adrian Sutil
It was OK today but a little disappointing not to have been able to have more running. Again we have had rain so we had to wait some time to get some decent running. We only got 61 laps as I was hoping for better weather, particularly after last week's test in Jerez. Tomorrow should be better so that's when the real programme can start for me with a race simulation.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
A slight change of plan today when the rain arrived, meaning that Adrian shook down a new chassis, but also completed a number of set-up tests rather than focussing on longer runs. It was difficult to conclude too much because of the track conditions, but we were able to uncover some useful items. With the final day of 2010 winter testing tomorrow expected to be dry, we are planning final race preparation work and aiming to complete as many of our test objectives as possible.
Williams
Rubens Barrichello joined the team in Barcelona today for day three of this week's four day test in Spain. As predicted, rain caused disruptions to this morning's work, and several red flags, but made way for some valuable dry running after the lunch break.
The team concentrated on set-up work with the FW32 in the earlier part of the session, before commencing race simulations in the afternoon. Rubens clocked 101 laps over the course of the day and ended the session in P4 on the time sheets with a 1:21.975.
Rubens will remain on testing duties tomorrow for the final day of the pre-season winter test run.
Sam Michael: Today we had some interruptions caused by rain, but we still managed to achieve just over one hundred laps working on race runs and set-up with Rubens. We're now focussing our attention on some more set-up work for the final day of winter testing.
Rubens Barrichello: We covered 101 laps today, which is always good. Unfortunately, we had some rain during the day which affected the programme a little bit. Everything that the team has brought to this test seems to be working well, so it’s been a positive day altogether.
Renault
Summary of the day: Light rain showers in the morning limited Vitaly’s track time, but the afternoon remained dry allowing the team to complete qualifying simulations and long runs.
Vitaly Petrov: “Another day of changing weather so we lost some time in the morning with the rain, but fortunately it was dry in the afternoon. We had a lot planned as it was my last day in the car before Bahrain and we did some good work and we’ve improved the car quite a bit. The qualifying simulation was useful and it was important I did this before the first race.”
Alan Permane, Chief Engineer: “It was a better day for Vitaly. We had a few issues with the car in the morning that we carried over from yesterday, but we very quickly got on top of them. The car was then much to his liking just before lunch. Unfortunately we had a little bit of rain again this morning, but managed some work in the afternoon carrying various fuel loads and Vitaly finished the day quite happy with the car. It’s a shame that he couldn’t have run a bit more today, but it was good to get a decent day of running.”
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg completed the third day of testing for the Mercedes GP Petronas team at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today to bring his pre-season testing programme to its conclusion.
Nico spent the morning working on qualifying simulations and developing the car set-up before completing a race simulation exercise in the afternoon. Despite intermittent rain showers in the late morning and early afternoon, Nico was able to complete almost 600kms over 128 laps as he set the fastest time of the day, a 1:20.686, during the driest period this morning.
Michael Schumacher will take over the MGP W01 tomorrow for the fourth and final day of the test.
Nico Rosberg: “We had a good day today and made some significant progress in terms of set-up which was nice to see. We hadn’t got the most out of the car in terms of performance over the last couple of days, but we made a step in the right direction today. We went through some big changes this morning step by step and found some good improvements. The longer runs this afternoon were interesting. We learnt a lot as there were other cars running similar programmes at the same time so we were able to do some comparisons. There is still plenty of room to improve but overall we’re looking in pretty good shape.”
Lotus
The morning sunshine gave way to grey conditions and light rain in Barcelona as the Lotus Racing T127 completed a successful third day of testing. By lunchtime Jarno Trulli had already completed 60 laps, and went on consistently throughout the day to finish on a total of 102 laps. The team completed a full race distance and were satisfied with the timings and quality of the day's activity.
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, commented on today's test, saying; "Another productive day with Jarno; over a hundred laps completed with no real mechanical issues and Jarno was able to complete the full race distance in the mix of wet and dry weather.
"We successfully completed our whole programme with the changeable conditions and have had two very useful days with Jarno in the car, with a very clear set up direction from him. Now we're looking forward to further refining the balance of the car with Heikki tomorrow."
Heikki takes the hot seat for the final day's testing before the season starts in earnest in Bahrain.
Tonio Liuzzi winds up the Jerez test for Force India
Tonio Liuzzi brought the VJM03's second test to a close today at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit. The Italian covered 80 laps of the Spanish track with a programme that included work on set-up and understanding the car's behaviour with the heavier fuel loads necessitated by the race refuelling ban this year. His fastest lap of 1:19.650 was the fourth quickest of the day.
The team's testing programme will now move to Barcelona next week from 25 - 28 February. Tonio will drive for the first two days, with Adrian Sutil taking over for the final two days.
Tonio Liuzzi
Today was a really productive day for us. We covered 80 laps without any issues and got through our programme of test items for this week. Everything went pretty well - we worked on understanding the car's performance with different fuel loads and ran through some set-up changes and the car is responding well. We still need to work on the tyres over the longer runs and will continue this at the next test in Barcelona. Overall I think we can be very satisfied with how this test has gone and can look forward to another good test next week.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
A good day to finish the eight days of testing in Jerez. Tonio completed a broad programme of set-up tests and we are satisfied with what was learned. We've made good progress this week, having tidied up some reliability issues, and developed our set-up options with the VJM03. The team has begun its race preparation in earnest and we will head to Barcelona to continue this work over the final test before the first race of 2010.
The team's testing programme will now move to Barcelona next week from 25 - 28 February. Tonio will drive for the first two days, with Adrian Sutil taking over for the final two days.
Tonio Liuzzi
Today was a really productive day for us. We covered 80 laps without any issues and got through our programme of test items for this week. Everything went pretty well - we worked on understanding the car's performance with different fuel loads and ran through some set-up changes and the car is responding well. We still need to work on the tyres over the longer runs and will continue this at the next test in Barcelona. Overall I think we can be very satisfied with how this test has gone and can look forward to another good test next week.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
A good day to finish the eight days of testing in Jerez. Tonio completed a broad programme of set-up tests and we are satisfied with what was learned. We've made good progress this week, having tidied up some reliability issues, and developed our set-up options with the VJM03. The team has begun its race preparation in earnest and we will head to Barcelona to continue this work over the final test before the first race of 2010.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Force India targets fifth place
Force India believes that fifth place in the constructors' championship is a realistic goal for the 2010 season.
The team had a breakout year in 2009, taking its first pole position and podium at Spa with Giancarlo Fisichella, and Adrian Sutil qualifying second at Monza and third at Interlagos.
But its pace was inconsistent and it was only ninth in the teams' standings. The VJM03 has made a strong start to pre-season testing and the team is confident that it can challenge more regularly this year.
With Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes expected to set the pace at the front of the grid, the battle for fifth is likely to be between Sauber, Williams, Renault, Toro Rosso and Force India.
"In the world championship, if we're fifth or six - above the median - that would be a successful season," said Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer.
"We finished ninth last year, if we can move up another three or four positions, we're on the right track.
"We'll try to continue on the same path where we finished [last] season, so at the start of this season we should be much stronger than we were at the start of last season. With that should come regular points finishes and the occasional podium."
The team has worked hard to improve its high downforce performance this year, an area in which it struggled in 2009. Szafnauer is hopeful this can be achieved without sacficing its performance in low downforce trim.
"We tried over the winter to enhance the places where we were deficient last year without losing the places we were very good," he said. "Can we repeat it? That's very much dependent on what our competition does.
"However, we did focus on not losing the aero efficiency that we had so there is every possibility that we will be strong on those circuits."
The team had a breakout year in 2009, taking its first pole position and podium at Spa with Giancarlo Fisichella, and Adrian Sutil qualifying second at Monza and third at Interlagos.
But its pace was inconsistent and it was only ninth in the teams' standings. The VJM03 has made a strong start to pre-season testing and the team is confident that it can challenge more regularly this year.
With Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes expected to set the pace at the front of the grid, the battle for fifth is likely to be between Sauber, Williams, Renault, Toro Rosso and Force India.
"In the world championship, if we're fifth or six - above the median - that would be a successful season," said Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer.
"We finished ninth last year, if we can move up another three or four positions, we're on the right track.
"We'll try to continue on the same path where we finished [last] season, so at the start of this season we should be much stronger than we were at the start of last season. With that should come regular points finishes and the occasional podium."
The team has worked hard to improve its high downforce performance this year, an area in which it struggled in 2009. Szafnauer is hopeful this can be achieved without sacficing its performance in low downforce trim.
"We tried over the winter to enhance the places where we were deficient last year without losing the places we were very good," he said. "Can we repeat it? That's very much dependent on what our competition does.
"However, we did focus on not losing the aero efficiency that we had so there is every possibility that we will be strong on those circuits."
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Force India: Participation not in doubt
Force India says that there are no doubts about its participation in this year's Formula 1 world championship, despite reports suggesting that the team could be put out of business.
A story in The Daily Telegraph revealed that Force India was sent a notice of dissolution on January 26 because of a failure to register its accounts with Companies House.
The team has until a February 25 deadline to complete its paperwork for the dissolution process to be called off - something team principal Vijay Mallya insists will be easily achieved.
"It is not unknown for companies to file their annual returns late the reasons for which are varied," Mallya told AUTOSPORT.
"Force India F1 Team has been in constant communication with Companies House and an extension to file was granted on 27 January 2010, with a grace period to 25 February 2010. This is a standard procedure and not uncommon in any industry.
"We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure filing is made on or before that date. Therefore Force India's participation within the F1 championship has not, and will not, be in jeopardy. "
Force India is currently preparing for its first full test of the new Mercedes-powered VJM03 at Jerez on February 10-13 following a successful shakedown at Silverstone on Wednesday.
Vitantonio Liuzzi is scheduled to drive on the first two days of the test, with Adrian Sutil taking over for the last two days.
A story in The Daily Telegraph revealed that Force India was sent a notice of dissolution on January 26 because of a failure to register its accounts with Companies House.
The team has until a February 25 deadline to complete its paperwork for the dissolution process to be called off - something team principal Vijay Mallya insists will be easily achieved.
"It is not unknown for companies to file their annual returns late the reasons for which are varied," Mallya told AUTOSPORT.
"Force India F1 Team has been in constant communication with Companies House and an extension to file was granted on 27 January 2010, with a grace period to 25 February 2010. This is a standard procedure and not uncommon in any industry.
"We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure filing is made on or before that date. Therefore Force India's participation within the F1 championship has not, and will not, be in jeopardy. "
Force India is currently preparing for its first full test of the new Mercedes-powered VJM03 at Jerez on February 10-13 following a successful shakedown at Silverstone on Wednesday.
Vitantonio Liuzzi is scheduled to drive on the first two days of the test, with Adrian Sutil taking over for the last two days.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Paul di Resta signs as test and reserve driver
Today, the Force India Formula One Team and principal sponsors, Whyte & Mackay confirmed that Paul di Resta will be the team’s test and reserve driver for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. The news was announced at a press conference held at Whyte & Mackay’s Glasgow headquarters in Paul’s native Scotland.
Twenty-three year old Paul, from West Lothian, impressed in his three day test in Jerez, Spain, in December 2009. He will now attend all races on the 2010 calendar and the team envisages he will participate in a number of Friday practice sessions to fully understand the VJM03, particularly given the ban on in-season testing will continue into next year. Additionally Paul will combine his F1 activities with a programme in DTM, which will serve the dual purpose of allowing Paul to learn the current F1 tracks while keeping his racing skills sharp.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal, commented, ‘I would like to thank both Paul and JR Hildebrand for their commitment in the test in Jerez. Both worked very hard and were impressive in the test. We are very proud to have someone of Paul’s calibre joining the team as his potential was clear in the test and he has the right attitude for making it in F1. The programme we have put together will allow him to get to grips with the car, the team and the environment and various pressures associated with F1 and we look forward to this becoming a very fruitful partnership.
Paul di Resta added, ‘I am ecstatic to finally get the chance to move into F1 at last. I’m pleased I can start my F1 career with Force India, a team that has a lot of potential. I see this move as taking me one step closer to achieving my dream of racing in F1 but I know I have a lot to learn in terms of the car and the tracks right now. I think this programme is a perfect way to prepare fully and be ready to go if and when the chance of a race seat comes. I hope this will be the start of a long-term future with Force India. With the support of all of the team, including Whyte & Mackay, I’m sure we will grow together.
John Beard, Chief Executive of Whyte & Mackay added, ‘Whyte & Mackay is proud of its global association with Force India and we are excited about the upcoming F1 season. It’s an added thrill for a Scotch whisky brand to see a talented Scottish driver achieve his Formula One ambitions. We welcome Paul to the team and look forward to working with him towards a successful season in 2010.
Twenty-three year old Paul, from West Lothian, impressed in his three day test in Jerez, Spain, in December 2009. He will now attend all races on the 2010 calendar and the team envisages he will participate in a number of Friday practice sessions to fully understand the VJM03, particularly given the ban on in-season testing will continue into next year. Additionally Paul will combine his F1 activities with a programme in DTM, which will serve the dual purpose of allowing Paul to learn the current F1 tracks while keeping his racing skills sharp.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal, commented, ‘I would like to thank both Paul and JR Hildebrand for their commitment in the test in Jerez. Both worked very hard and were impressive in the test. We are very proud to have someone of Paul’s calibre joining the team as his potential was clear in the test and he has the right attitude for making it in F1. The programme we have put together will allow him to get to grips with the car, the team and the environment and various pressures associated with F1 and we look forward to this becoming a very fruitful partnership.
Paul di Resta added, ‘I am ecstatic to finally get the chance to move into F1 at last. I’m pleased I can start my F1 career with Force India, a team that has a lot of potential. I see this move as taking me one step closer to achieving my dream of racing in F1 but I know I have a lot to learn in terms of the car and the tracks right now. I think this programme is a perfect way to prepare fully and be ready to go if and when the chance of a race seat comes. I hope this will be the start of a long-term future with Force India. With the support of all of the team, including Whyte & Mackay, I’m sure we will grow together.
John Beard, Chief Executive of Whyte & Mackay added, ‘Whyte & Mackay is proud of its global association with Force India and we are excited about the upcoming F1 season. It’s an added thrill for a Scotch whisky brand to see a talented Scottish driver achieve his Formula One ambitions. We welcome Paul to the team and look forward to working with him towards a successful season in 2010.
Force India set to confirm di Resta
Paul di Resta is expected to be unveiled as Force India's reserve driver later today in a move that will move him a step closer a full-time Formula 1 seat.
The Scotsman, who has raced in the DTM for the last few years, is set to take a role that will give him track time during several Friday practice sessions in 2010 - and give him a chance to show his credentials for a race seat.
The team's decision comes after di Resta impressed Force India during an outing in last year's young driver test days at Jerez in Spain.
Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug has welcomed the move, having supported di Resta's career for several years.
"We were involved of course, and there was also already a discussion last year in that direction," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "I think he deserves it. He did a good job at the young driver test and I think he is one to watch. He is good. Very good."
The Scotsman, who has raced in the DTM for the last few years, is set to take a role that will give him track time during several Friday practice sessions in 2010 - and give him a chance to show his credentials for a race seat.
The team's decision comes after di Resta impressed Force India during an outing in last year's young driver test days at Jerez in Spain.
Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug has welcomed the move, having supported di Resta's career for several years.
"We were involved of course, and there was also already a discussion last year in that direction," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "I think he deserves it. He did a good job at the young driver test and I think he is one to watch. He is good. Very good."
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Force India - Dominic Harlow
Dominic Harlow: “I can’t remember a better winter build period”
Even during the winter the pace never slows in Grand Prix racing, and it’s been a busy few months at the Force India factory at Silverstone as the team prepares for the 2010 season.
In some ways life has been easier than last year, when Dr Vijay Mallya made a relatively late call to switch to Mercedes power and a McLaren transmission. Hindsight shows that it was an inspired decision, but the drawback was that last winter the technical team had to make a lot of changes to a car design that was already in progress.
That is no longer an issue, of course. On the other hand time is a little tighter than last year, because the first race in Bahrain is two weeks earlier than the 2009 season opener in Australia.
However, the big difference in the Force India factory is the buzz about the place. After fighting at the back of the field for several seasons, last year the team earned a pole position and regularly challenged for points. Everyone expects that form to carry on in 2010.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer, says that there’s a great atmosphere in the camp.
“I can’t remember a better winter build period for the team in the time since I’ve been here,” he says. “It’s been good in terms of continuity, the general feeling, and the aims and the goals that we are setting ourselves. That’s all been very positive. It’s still a time for change and regrouping and planning and so on, so all of that is going on as normal.
“But underlying that there’s just a confidence that if we carry on what we’re doing and believe in each other, then we will deliver. And unlike some other teams we’re not scratching around trying to put together a car at the last minute.”
Continuity is the key. Under its various identities over the years the team became used to changing engine suppliers at relatively short notice, so carrying over the Mercedes from 2009 – not to mention the fact that the same engine that won the World Championship – is a major boost.
“It certainly is,” says Harlow. “We’ve kept the whole powertrain. The regulations are basically the same, although that helps every other team as well. We’ve been able to start everything much earlier and everything is as you’d want to have it now, rather than just being a reaction to everything else that’s going on around.”
Although the regulations are essentially unchanged after the huge upheavals of last winter, there are some issues that have to be addressed.
“We have a narrower front tyre. And the tyres generally always change and are a little bit of an unknown – we’ll be interested to find out about them when we go testing. The deletion of spinners, or wheel discs, also has a big impact.”
The biggest change is that there is no refuelling at pit stops in 2010, so cars will start races with a much heavier fuel load than previously. Thus a major task over the winter has been to determine the size of the fuel tank – in other words calculate how much fuel would be required to finish the race which is heaviest on fuel consumption. Get the numbers wrong and make the tank too small, and there could be a major embarrassment.
“We were pretty systematic,” says Harlow. “We looked at everything we could think of that affects fuel consumption – the drag of the car, the circuits we run at, driving style, the way we run the engines, the fuel itself. We forecast that forward to 2010 and came up with a prediction based on the worst circuit in terms of fuel use, which is now Valencia. Then you have some design factors to include, such as the way a calculated fuel tank size never quite becomes a manufactured one – it’s a slightly inexact science.”
The lack of refuelling means that race strategy is now going to be quite different. Drivers still have to use both the prime and option tyres during a race, so there will be pit stops. But determining the best time to change – given that the heavy fuel load at the start will put more stress on the tyres in the early laps – is an extremely complicated equation.
“It’s quite a big unexplored area, and there’s still a lot of modelling for the fuel consumption and the tyres that we still need to do. Depending on where we’re racing, I think people are going to be a bit more cagey at the start of the race.”
The extra complication for the drivers is that the car behaviour will change dramatically between the early laps, with a full load, and the latter stages of the race.
“The car balance will change quite a lot as the fuel weight goes down. I think it’s another challenge, and as always, the cream will rise to the top. It will help the fastest learners. And for us it’s where the continuity and the relative experience of our guys is going to favour us.
“In wet conditions the extra weight of the cars will be another interesting factor, and will probably accentuate the differences between the drivers even more than previously.”
Even during the winter the pace never slows in Grand Prix racing, and it’s been a busy few months at the Force India factory at Silverstone as the team prepares for the 2010 season.
In some ways life has been easier than last year, when Dr Vijay Mallya made a relatively late call to switch to Mercedes power and a McLaren transmission. Hindsight shows that it was an inspired decision, but the drawback was that last winter the technical team had to make a lot of changes to a car design that was already in progress.
That is no longer an issue, of course. On the other hand time is a little tighter than last year, because the first race in Bahrain is two weeks earlier than the 2009 season opener in Australia.
However, the big difference in the Force India factory is the buzz about the place. After fighting at the back of the field for several seasons, last year the team earned a pole position and regularly challenged for points. Everyone expects that form to carry on in 2010.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer, says that there’s a great atmosphere in the camp.
“I can’t remember a better winter build period for the team in the time since I’ve been here,” he says. “It’s been good in terms of continuity, the general feeling, and the aims and the goals that we are setting ourselves. That’s all been very positive. It’s still a time for change and regrouping and planning and so on, so all of that is going on as normal.
“But underlying that there’s just a confidence that if we carry on what we’re doing and believe in each other, then we will deliver. And unlike some other teams we’re not scratching around trying to put together a car at the last minute.”
Continuity is the key. Under its various identities over the years the team became used to changing engine suppliers at relatively short notice, so carrying over the Mercedes from 2009 – not to mention the fact that the same engine that won the World Championship – is a major boost.
“It certainly is,” says Harlow. “We’ve kept the whole powertrain. The regulations are basically the same, although that helps every other team as well. We’ve been able to start everything much earlier and everything is as you’d want to have it now, rather than just being a reaction to everything else that’s going on around.”
Although the regulations are essentially unchanged after the huge upheavals of last winter, there are some issues that have to be addressed.
“We have a narrower front tyre. And the tyres generally always change and are a little bit of an unknown – we’ll be interested to find out about them when we go testing. The deletion of spinners, or wheel discs, also has a big impact.”
The biggest change is that there is no refuelling at pit stops in 2010, so cars will start races with a much heavier fuel load than previously. Thus a major task over the winter has been to determine the size of the fuel tank – in other words calculate how much fuel would be required to finish the race which is heaviest on fuel consumption. Get the numbers wrong and make the tank too small, and there could be a major embarrassment.
“We were pretty systematic,” says Harlow. “We looked at everything we could think of that affects fuel consumption – the drag of the car, the circuits we run at, driving style, the way we run the engines, the fuel itself. We forecast that forward to 2010 and came up with a prediction based on the worst circuit in terms of fuel use, which is now Valencia. Then you have some design factors to include, such as the way a calculated fuel tank size never quite becomes a manufactured one – it’s a slightly inexact science.”
The lack of refuelling means that race strategy is now going to be quite different. Drivers still have to use both the prime and option tyres during a race, so there will be pit stops. But determining the best time to change – given that the heavy fuel load at the start will put more stress on the tyres in the early laps – is an extremely complicated equation.
“It’s quite a big unexplored area, and there’s still a lot of modelling for the fuel consumption and the tyres that we still need to do. Depending on where we’re racing, I think people are going to be a bit more cagey at the start of the race.”
The extra complication for the drivers is that the car behaviour will change dramatically between the early laps, with a full load, and the latter stages of the race.
“The car balance will change quite a lot as the fuel weight goes down. I think it’s another challenge, and as always, the cream will rise to the top. It will help the fastest learners. And for us it’s where the continuity and the relative experience of our guys is going to favour us.
“In wet conditions the extra weight of the cars will be another interesting factor, and will probably accentuate the differences between the drivers even more than previously.”
Saturday, 9 January 2010
A new look to Formula 1 in 2010
After the winter holiday break Force India and the 12 other Grand Prix teams are all hard at work preparing their new cars for what promises to be a fascinating 2010 season – one that will look very different from last year. The arrival of four new teams on the scene and the return of Michael Schumacher are just two of the novelties we will see at the first race in Bahrain on March 14.
Indeed the pace of change in F1 is such that Force India is one of only three teams to enter this year with the same two drivers who competed in the last race of 2009.
Even more astonishing is the fact that Force India is one of the only teams heading into 2010 under the same ownership, or at least with the same pattern of shareholders, as last year!
Amid all these changes the continuity at Force India will help the team prepare for what promises to be an intriguing challenge. While the package of technical changes for the new season is not as significant as last year, Grand Prix racing will have a fresh look in 2010 thanks to the ban on refuelling during races. There will still be pit stops for tyres, since as before the rules force drivers to use both the prime and option compounds during an event. But the way races unfold will be very different.
Since the modern era of refuelling came in for the 1994 season F1 has essentially been about sprints between pits stops, with races usually divided into three or four (and less frequently two) segments. Race strategy was all about the complex balance between the weight of the fuel load in the car, and the performance of the tyres over a short stint. Typically the guys at the front of the field have been starting races with 45-60kgs of fuel on board.
Now, once again, everyone will start with the fuel load that will carry them to the chequered flag, which equates to around 160-170kgs (and that will vary by a small but crucial amount between engine suppliers). Traditionally the race that requires the most fuel is Montreal, which is back on the calendar this year, so teams have had to determine the size of their fuel tanks based on that event.
The difference in car behaviour between the first and last laps will be significant. Teams will have to compromise with set-ups, and drivers will have to cope with a much bigger balance change than they have been used to. That will benefit drivers who can adapt more readily to changing circumstances, as opposed to those who only shine when their car is just-so.
The timing of the compulsory tyre stop will be totally flexible, as fuel is not an issue – in theory we could see stops anywhere between the end of the first and start of the last laps. There will be weekends where one compound is favoured and drivers will use up the ‘problem’ tyre as soon as they can, and others where they might want to put it on late, when the fuel load is lighter and there’s less stress on it. Managing the tires when the car is ultra heavy will clearly be crucial.
One major plus is that qualifying goes back to days of pure speed on near empty tanks, with fuel no longer an issue on Saturdays. The fact that cars will always be a similar weight won’t help overtaking, but purists are hoping that since drivers know that they can’t wait to leap frog a rival at a stop, they will be forced to find their own way by. That’s the theory, anyway..
The change will also put a renewed focus on pit crews. Hitherto the driver has had to wait for the fuel hose – the determining factor in stop time. Now it’s going to be change tyres and go, and Force India has already put a big effort into preparing the crew.
The other big novelty in 2010 will be the division of points. The familiar 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system to be replaced by a new format that rewards the top 10 finishers on the basis 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1, ostensibly so that more drivers on the enlarged 26-car grid have the chance to score.
While the weighting of points between the top three (and seventh) places remains exactly the same, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth are now worth less than used to be relative to the score for a win
Although there have been small tweaks in the past, such as the move from nine to 10 for a win and more recently rewarding seventh and eighth place instead of just the top six, the new system is so different that any historical comparisons will now be impossible.
Indeed the pace of change in F1 is such that Force India is one of only three teams to enter this year with the same two drivers who competed in the last race of 2009.
Even more astonishing is the fact that Force India is one of the only teams heading into 2010 under the same ownership, or at least with the same pattern of shareholders, as last year!
Amid all these changes the continuity at Force India will help the team prepare for what promises to be an intriguing challenge. While the package of technical changes for the new season is not as significant as last year, Grand Prix racing will have a fresh look in 2010 thanks to the ban on refuelling during races. There will still be pit stops for tyres, since as before the rules force drivers to use both the prime and option compounds during an event. But the way races unfold will be very different.
Since the modern era of refuelling came in for the 1994 season F1 has essentially been about sprints between pits stops, with races usually divided into three or four (and less frequently two) segments. Race strategy was all about the complex balance between the weight of the fuel load in the car, and the performance of the tyres over a short stint. Typically the guys at the front of the field have been starting races with 45-60kgs of fuel on board.
Now, once again, everyone will start with the fuel load that will carry them to the chequered flag, which equates to around 160-170kgs (and that will vary by a small but crucial amount between engine suppliers). Traditionally the race that requires the most fuel is Montreal, which is back on the calendar this year, so teams have had to determine the size of their fuel tanks based on that event.
The difference in car behaviour between the first and last laps will be significant. Teams will have to compromise with set-ups, and drivers will have to cope with a much bigger balance change than they have been used to. That will benefit drivers who can adapt more readily to changing circumstances, as opposed to those who only shine when their car is just-so.
The timing of the compulsory tyre stop will be totally flexible, as fuel is not an issue – in theory we could see stops anywhere between the end of the first and start of the last laps. There will be weekends where one compound is favoured and drivers will use up the ‘problem’ tyre as soon as they can, and others where they might want to put it on late, when the fuel load is lighter and there’s less stress on it. Managing the tires when the car is ultra heavy will clearly be crucial.
One major plus is that qualifying goes back to days of pure speed on near empty tanks, with fuel no longer an issue on Saturdays. The fact that cars will always be a similar weight won’t help overtaking, but purists are hoping that since drivers know that they can’t wait to leap frog a rival at a stop, they will be forced to find their own way by. That’s the theory, anyway..
The change will also put a renewed focus on pit crews. Hitherto the driver has had to wait for the fuel hose – the determining factor in stop time. Now it’s going to be change tyres and go, and Force India has already put a big effort into preparing the crew.
The other big novelty in 2010 will be the division of points. The familiar 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system to be replaced by a new format that rewards the top 10 finishers on the basis 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1, ostensibly so that more drivers on the enlarged 26-car grid have the chance to score.
While the weighting of points between the top three (and seventh) places remains exactly the same, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth are now worth less than used to be relative to the score for a win
Although there have been small tweaks in the past, such as the move from nine to 10 for a win and more recently rewarding seventh and eighth place instead of just the top six, the new system is so different that any historical comparisons will now be impossible.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
CRL partners with Force India to help design the next generation of Formula 1 cars
16th December 2009
Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, and Force India Formula One Team (FIF1), India’s first and only F1 team, today announced an exclusive three-year multi-million dollar partnership deal to offer a fully automated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solution to aid the design of the team’s next generation race cars as well improve aerodynamic efficiency in the current racing models. This will be the first time a Formula 1 team will leverage an Indian HPC (high performance computing) organization for their design activities.
In conjunction with physical wind tunnel and straight line testing, Force India relies on virtual prototypes and CFD methods to improve racing car aerodynamics and accuracy by conducting complex simulations without compromising processing times. The sheer computing power provided by CRL will enable Force India to reduce its design cycle times, thus providing the team’s drivers with the best chance of a strong result.
With this partnership, Force India’s design team will now have access to ‘eka’, India’s fastest supercomputer and one of the most versatile supercomputers in the world that is capable of 133 trillion calculations per second! The new system will increase Force India’s CFD computing capacity in the first year by a factor of at least four, allowing the team to model the car’s aerodynamics in much more detail and deliver results in greatly reduced time frames.
Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Team Principal, Force India Formula One Team Ltd said, ”Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are a critical part of Force India’s car design process to continually improve the team’s aerodynamic performance. The tie-up with CRL will significantly accelerate Force India’s computational simulations to drive better on-track results. The tie-up with CRL gives us an immediate 200% increase in our CFD processing capability which will rise to almost 800% by the end of 2010. We have integrated our own CFD methods with the CRL facility to allow Force India’s CFD engineers to seamlessly interface between the UK and India effectively, giving us increased processing power. The CRL facility allows us to run significantly more CFD cases, in the region of 200% more cases per day, with twice the model size currently possible. In the future this will increase still further and also allow Force India to undertake significant development of the current CFD methods in us”.
Mr. S Ramodarai, Chairman, CRL, said: “With this partnership, CRL reconfirms its commitment to develop technology that will aid in design activities and make it seamless for the companies to take advantage of HPC. We are really proud to be associated with a brand such as Force India Formula One Team which has showcased India as a team to watch in the global motor racing arena. This deal demonstrates the value that an organization can get by leveraging ‘eka’, and the complete HPC support ecosystem we have set up at CRL.”
Virtual wind tunnel simulation applications on ‘eka’, using Computational Fluid Dynamics, can help address the limitations of a testing environment in understanding the impact of design on the aerodynamic abilities of aeroplanes and automobiles. The CFD designs for Formula One cars, are amongst the most complicated, and require extremely high computing powers for timely and accurate results. CRL will provide Force India with a complete HPC ecosystem, ranging from fully automated pre processing to post processing simulation work flow on ‘eka’, customized configurations to application optimization services for Force India’s design activities.
About Force India Formula One Team Limited:
The Force India Formula One Team races in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Based in Silverstone, UK, it’s a small, tight-knit team that punches above its weight and races with the larger, more established teams. 2009 was only the team’s second year of competition at the highest level of motorsport but over this short period of time, it has secured one pole, one podium and one fastest lap and was ninth in the championship last season.
The team was created in the final months of 2007 when Dr Vijay Mallya, owner of India’s iconic UB Group and Kingfisher Airlines, and Jan & Michiel Mol, Dutch e-commerce businessmen, established a joint-venture company. Called Orange India Holdings (OIH), the enterprise finalised negotiations to purchase the Spyker Formula One Team from Spyker Cars N.V. in October 2007. Its creation was the the first-ever foray for an Indian team into the FIA Formula One World Championship.
After the close of the racing season, the team was renamed Force India to forge an emotional, opportunistic and highly compelling commercial aspect with the enormous, growing Indian market. The name symbolises at once the growth of economic consumerism in India, the world’s fastest growing economy at 9% per year, and the emerging new youth where 500 million Indians are below the age of 25, and 400 million Indians are below the age of 20.
The team continues to be one of F1’s smaller outfits, with a staff of approximately 250 people operating from its base in Silverstone, in Northamptonshire, UK, just opposite the main gates to the famous Silverstone Circuit. Just 12km from the Silverstone building, in Brackley, the team also has its main aerodynamic facility, a 50% scale wind tunnel and a further 55 staff.
The team competed in 2009 with German driver Adrian Sutil and until the Italian GP with Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella. Tonio Liuzzi took over Giancarlo’s seat from Italy onwards following the latter’s move to Ferrari.
Computational Research Laboratories Limited (CRL)
CRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd. The company is into the business of High Performance Computing (HPC) services and solutions. CRL’s supercomputer, ‘eka’ was ranked the 4th fastest in the world in November 2007, marking India’s presence in the Top500 list of supercomputers, being the first non-American supercomputer to break into top 5. CRL provides HPC services and solutions to various organizations in the Automotive, Aerospace, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Exploration & Production, Media & Entertainment, Weather and Scientific sectors among many others.
Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, and Force India Formula One Team (FIF1), India’s first and only F1 team, today announced an exclusive three-year multi-million dollar partnership deal to offer a fully automated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solution to aid the design of the team’s next generation race cars as well improve aerodynamic efficiency in the current racing models. This will be the first time a Formula 1 team will leverage an Indian HPC (high performance computing) organization for their design activities.
In conjunction with physical wind tunnel and straight line testing, Force India relies on virtual prototypes and CFD methods to improve racing car aerodynamics and accuracy by conducting complex simulations without compromising processing times. The sheer computing power provided by CRL will enable Force India to reduce its design cycle times, thus providing the team’s drivers with the best chance of a strong result.
With this partnership, Force India’s design team will now have access to ‘eka’, India’s fastest supercomputer and one of the most versatile supercomputers in the world that is capable of 133 trillion calculations per second! The new system will increase Force India’s CFD computing capacity in the first year by a factor of at least four, allowing the team to model the car’s aerodynamics in much more detail and deliver results in greatly reduced time frames.
Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Team Principal, Force India Formula One Team Ltd said, ”Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are a critical part of Force India’s car design process to continually improve the team’s aerodynamic performance. The tie-up with CRL will significantly accelerate Force India’s computational simulations to drive better on-track results. The tie-up with CRL gives us an immediate 200% increase in our CFD processing capability which will rise to almost 800% by the end of 2010. We have integrated our own CFD methods with the CRL facility to allow Force India’s CFD engineers to seamlessly interface between the UK and India effectively, giving us increased processing power. The CRL facility allows us to run significantly more CFD cases, in the region of 200% more cases per day, with twice the model size currently possible. In the future this will increase still further and also allow Force India to undertake significant development of the current CFD methods in us”.
Mr. S Ramodarai, Chairman, CRL, said: “With this partnership, CRL reconfirms its commitment to develop technology that will aid in design activities and make it seamless for the companies to take advantage of HPC. We are really proud to be associated with a brand such as Force India Formula One Team which has showcased India as a team to watch in the global motor racing arena. This deal demonstrates the value that an organization can get by leveraging ‘eka’, and the complete HPC support ecosystem we have set up at CRL.”
Virtual wind tunnel simulation applications on ‘eka’, using Computational Fluid Dynamics, can help address the limitations of a testing environment in understanding the impact of design on the aerodynamic abilities of aeroplanes and automobiles. The CFD designs for Formula One cars, are amongst the most complicated, and require extremely high computing powers for timely and accurate results. CRL will provide Force India with a complete HPC ecosystem, ranging from fully automated pre processing to post processing simulation work flow on ‘eka’, customized configurations to application optimization services for Force India’s design activities.
About Force India Formula One Team Limited:
The Force India Formula One Team races in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Based in Silverstone, UK, it’s a small, tight-knit team that punches above its weight and races with the larger, more established teams. 2009 was only the team’s second year of competition at the highest level of motorsport but over this short period of time, it has secured one pole, one podium and one fastest lap and was ninth in the championship last season.
The team was created in the final months of 2007 when Dr Vijay Mallya, owner of India’s iconic UB Group and Kingfisher Airlines, and Jan & Michiel Mol, Dutch e-commerce businessmen, established a joint-venture company. Called Orange India Holdings (OIH), the enterprise finalised negotiations to purchase the Spyker Formula One Team from Spyker Cars N.V. in October 2007. Its creation was the the first-ever foray for an Indian team into the FIA Formula One World Championship.
After the close of the racing season, the team was renamed Force India to forge an emotional, opportunistic and highly compelling commercial aspect with the enormous, growing Indian market. The name symbolises at once the growth of economic consumerism in India, the world’s fastest growing economy at 9% per year, and the emerging new youth where 500 million Indians are below the age of 25, and 400 million Indians are below the age of 20.
The team continues to be one of F1’s smaller outfits, with a staff of approximately 250 people operating from its base in Silverstone, in Northamptonshire, UK, just opposite the main gates to the famous Silverstone Circuit. Just 12km from the Silverstone building, in Brackley, the team also has its main aerodynamic facility, a 50% scale wind tunnel and a further 55 staff.
The team competed in 2009 with German driver Adrian Sutil and until the Italian GP with Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella. Tonio Liuzzi took over Giancarlo’s seat from Italy onwards following the latter’s move to Ferrari.
Computational Research Laboratories Limited (CRL)
CRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd. The company is into the business of High Performance Computing (HPC) services and solutions. CRL’s supercomputer, ‘eka’ was ranked the 4th fastest in the world in November 2007, marking India’s presence in the Top500 list of supercomputers, being the first non-American supercomputer to break into top 5. CRL provides HPC services and solutions to various organizations in the Automotive, Aerospace, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Exploration & Production, Media & Entertainment, Weather and Scientific sectors among many others.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Paul di Resta tests for Force India at Jerez
3rd December 2009
Q and A with young test driver showing some promise for the Force India team that are coming off a remarkable finish to the 2009 season.
Q and A with young test driver showing some promise for the Force India team that are coming off a remarkable finish to the 2009 season.
Force India season review
For many years now, Force India – or whatever it was called at the time – has begun the season pledging to break out of Q1 and start challenging for regular points.
Time and time again, the Silverstone-based squad has ended up disappointed as that breakthrough never came.
But in 2009, it finally happened.
Force India didn’t just qualify better and score, it came thrillingly close to winning a race on merit – taking one podium and challenging for more.
That all looked pretty unlikely in the first half of the year.
The change to a McLaren/Mercedes drivetrain was a step forward, but gave the small outfit a lot of work to do over the winter, and it was one of the last to launch its 2009 car.
Initially it was business as usual. Practice times flattered to deceive and drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella remained in the bottom quarter of the grid.
And race-day opportunities continued to slide away from Force India too: Fisichella missed his pit stall while on course to score in Australia, and Sutil aquaplaned into the barriers and out of seventh late in the Chinese Grand Prix.
But there would be more chances to come, for the team was edging forward.
Both cars reached Q2 at last in Monaco, traditionally a stronghold for both drivers, and Fisichella would have been eighth had Sebastien Bourdais not slipped ahead at the start.
Then an upgrade package for Silverstone thrust the squad into top-10 contention – only for a brake failure to send Sutil into the barriers in Q1 and cause a red flag that ruined Fisichella’s chances too.
The Italian’s stunning race pace, which saw him chasing Toyotas and Ferraris on the way to 10th, showed what might have been.
Sutil’s wet-weather prowess got him up to seventh on the grid for his home GP, but it was genuine speed that kept him in the points in the dry race – until a tangle with nemesis Kimi Raikkonen.
A new front wing for Valencia was the final piece in the jigsaw.
The sinuous street track wasn’t the best place to show it, but that upgrade unlocked the Force India’s vast potential in low-drag, low-downforce configuration.
A week later on the fast sweeps of Spa, Fisichella took pole position – not because of crazy weather or a showboating strategy, but because he was faster than anyone else.
It wasn’t a one-off either – had an early safety car not allowed Raikkonen and his KERS boost to get within range, Fisichella would have won.
He tailed the Ferrari for the rest of the race and gave Force India its first points with an astonishing second place.
Pundits had laughed when team owner Vijay Mallya spoke of challenging for a podium by the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in 2011... no one imagined his target would be achieved two years ahead of schedule.
Force India was fast enough to add another podium in Italy, but, even as he celebrated his brilliant front row position, Sutil was nervously eyeing the plethora of KERS cars that would be starting around him.
Sure enough, he had to follow Raikkonen (again) home in fourth.
His new team-mate Tonio Liuzzi (Fisichella having been lured away by Ferrari) also had a shot at the top three, showing excellent pace on a one-stop strategy before a hydraulic glitch halted him.
Force India wouldn’t score again after Monza – its package proving uncompetitive in Singapore and Abu Dhabi in particular, and Liuzzi finding his unfamiliarity with the car much more of a handicap at the more technical circuits that followed.
But Sutil continued to show the car’s capabilities on the fast, flowing traditional tracks, taking fourth on the grid in Japan and third at Interlagos.
A post-qualifying penalty and a first-lap tangle with Jarno Trulli respectively ruined those races.
Force India’s tally of 13 points this year was more than even its most optimistic fans would have expected when the season got underway, but adding up all the missed opportunities it’s clear that it could have threatened Renault’s eighth place in the constructors’ championship.
Even though the crashes weren’t always his fault, Sutil’s accident rate remained alarming and there were question marks over whether all three drivers got the most out of the car.
It seems churlish to pick too many faults in what was one of the biggest feel-good stories of the season.
To be fighting for victories on merit was a staggering achievement for this still-small team given its turbulent recent history.
But still you have to ponder what might have been possible had the drivers delivered more consistently and stayed out of trouble more often.
If anything, the fact that this miracle year could have been even better will only spur the team on even more as it goes into 2010 confident that its days of keeping the back row warm are over.
Force India's 2009 highlight: Pole position on pure pace at Spa – a track that meant so much to the team in its Jordan days.
Lowlight: Getting used to Q1 elimination again in Singapore after the highs of the preceding races.
Time and time again, the Silverstone-based squad has ended up disappointed as that breakthrough never came.
But in 2009, it finally happened.
Force India didn’t just qualify better and score, it came thrillingly close to winning a race on merit – taking one podium and challenging for more.
That all looked pretty unlikely in the first half of the year.
The change to a McLaren/Mercedes drivetrain was a step forward, but gave the small outfit a lot of work to do over the winter, and it was one of the last to launch its 2009 car.
Initially it was business as usual. Practice times flattered to deceive and drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella remained in the bottom quarter of the grid.
And race-day opportunities continued to slide away from Force India too: Fisichella missed his pit stall while on course to score in Australia, and Sutil aquaplaned into the barriers and out of seventh late in the Chinese Grand Prix.
But there would be more chances to come, for the team was edging forward.
Both cars reached Q2 at last in Monaco, traditionally a stronghold for both drivers, and Fisichella would have been eighth had Sebastien Bourdais not slipped ahead at the start.
Then an upgrade package for Silverstone thrust the squad into top-10 contention – only for a brake failure to send Sutil into the barriers in Q1 and cause a red flag that ruined Fisichella’s chances too.
The Italian’s stunning race pace, which saw him chasing Toyotas and Ferraris on the way to 10th, showed what might have been.
Sutil’s wet-weather prowess got him up to seventh on the grid for his home GP, but it was genuine speed that kept him in the points in the dry race – until a tangle with nemesis Kimi Raikkonen.
A new front wing for Valencia was the final piece in the jigsaw.
The sinuous street track wasn’t the best place to show it, but that upgrade unlocked the Force India’s vast potential in low-drag, low-downforce configuration.
A week later on the fast sweeps of Spa, Fisichella took pole position – not because of crazy weather or a showboating strategy, but because he was faster than anyone else.
It wasn’t a one-off either – had an early safety car not allowed Raikkonen and his KERS boost to get within range, Fisichella would have won.
He tailed the Ferrari for the rest of the race and gave Force India its first points with an astonishing second place.
Pundits had laughed when team owner Vijay Mallya spoke of challenging for a podium by the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in 2011... no one imagined his target would be achieved two years ahead of schedule.
Force India was fast enough to add another podium in Italy, but, even as he celebrated his brilliant front row position, Sutil was nervously eyeing the plethora of KERS cars that would be starting around him.
Sure enough, he had to follow Raikkonen (again) home in fourth.
His new team-mate Tonio Liuzzi (Fisichella having been lured away by Ferrari) also had a shot at the top three, showing excellent pace on a one-stop strategy before a hydraulic glitch halted him.
Force India wouldn’t score again after Monza – its package proving uncompetitive in Singapore and Abu Dhabi in particular, and Liuzzi finding his unfamiliarity with the car much more of a handicap at the more technical circuits that followed.
But Sutil continued to show the car’s capabilities on the fast, flowing traditional tracks, taking fourth on the grid in Japan and third at Interlagos.
A post-qualifying penalty and a first-lap tangle with Jarno Trulli respectively ruined those races.
Force India’s tally of 13 points this year was more than even its most optimistic fans would have expected when the season got underway, but adding up all the missed opportunities it’s clear that it could have threatened Renault’s eighth place in the constructors’ championship.
Even though the crashes weren’t always his fault, Sutil’s accident rate remained alarming and there were question marks over whether all three drivers got the most out of the car.
It seems churlish to pick too many faults in what was one of the biggest feel-good stories of the season.
To be fighting for victories on merit was a staggering achievement for this still-small team given its turbulent recent history.
But still you have to ponder what might have been possible had the drivers delivered more consistently and stayed out of trouble more often.
If anything, the fact that this miracle year could have been even better will only spur the team on even more as it goes into 2010 confident that its days of keeping the back row warm are over.
Force India's 2009 highlight: Pole position on pure pace at Spa – a track that meant so much to the team in its Jordan days.
Lowlight: Getting used to Q1 elimination again in Singapore after the highs of the preceding races.
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