Force India delays the launch of 2011 car
Force India announces running the first test of the 2011 season with its last year’s car. The team stated that the development work on the next season’s car is under way but the management wishes not to touch the track until the second test at Jerez.
The three day opening test session is scheduled to begin on the 1st of February in Valencia. Many of the teams including Ferrari, Toro Rosso and Mercedes GP have already announced to launch their next season’s packages a day ahead of the test.
However, the Indian squad proclaimed that they want their car to hit the track once they are fully satisfied by its development work. This means that the new car will not be seen until 10th of February, when the second three day testing is set to
take place at Jerez.
The 2011 season will be seeing the introduction of the new Pirelli tyres in place of the last year’s Bridgestone. With such a grand change in the sport, it is believed that every single mile of testing is very important for the teams to adjust with the new
rubber. However, Force India insisted that the development of the new package is more crucial and they will be able to cope up with the testing sessions in little time.
The chief operating officer of the team, Otmar Szafnauer told the media, "We've carefully considered our plans for the start of the season and the introduction of the new Force India, the VJM04. The team will participate in all four pre-season tests and
we will use the VJM03 for the first test in Valencia before the VJM04 makes its test debut in Jerez the following week."
Force India was also not seen in the initial test ahead of the 2010 season last February, along with the double champion winner, Red Bull Racing, as both stressed on the development of their 2010 packages.
While talking about the team’s decision this year, Szafnauer confirmed that it is also based on the same calculations as made last year. He explained saying, "Starting a test later with the new car gives us a couple of weeks more wind tunnel time when we
are at our most productive to get the parts released for the new car. There is always a trade-off between running the car early and getting increased information for the aero department and we believe it will work to our advantage, given our size and resources."
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