Is this Force India’s 2009 livery?
This picture from the Force India 2009 F1 calendar shows a new livery
Anirudh spotted this picture of Force India’s 2009 official calendar on their website.
The car in each of the pictures isn’t in the team’s 2008 colours: a bright flash of green on the front has replaced the red of last year. The colours are much closer to the flag of India.
Is this, as Anirudh suggests, a leak of Force India’s 2009 colour scheme two months ahead of the VJM02’s launch? More pics below (including one that Fisichella lovers will enjoy…)
Or are Force India going to experiment with a different livery over the winter as they did last year?
That mainly red colour scheme was apparently dropped at the insistence of former engine supplier Ferrari, who apparently thought the shade was too close to their own red. Perhaps McLaren, who are supplying Force India with various components for 2009 including Mercedes engines, feel the day-glo flashes on the 2008 VJM01 were too easily confused with their paint scheme?
Or perhaps whoever designed the Force India calendar got the colours wrong. What do you think?
It’s not unusual for images of teams new liveries to sneak out ahead of their official dates: Williams denied leaked photographs of their 2008 livery were accurate although it later turned out they were.
We’ll know for sure in March when the Force India VJM02 is launched.
Thanks to Anirudh for the tip!
More pictures from the 2009 Force India calendar
Force India 2009 F1 calendar - January (click to enlarge)
Force India 2009 F1 calendar - February (click to enlarge)
Force India 2009 F1 calendar - March (click to enlarge)
Read more
Chaz said on 12th January 2009, 19:21
Seems Fisi will do anything to keep his seat. Put a shirt on mate…
About the colours, well it makes sense to put India’s colours on the car as India is a huge market, and if a GP is going to India soon then it’s a bonus towards enlisting more fans and supporters to the team…
Sush said on 12th January 2009, 19:35
LMAO at Fisi!
todd said on 13th January 2009, 7:54
looks like it might be, the front wing is huge, so is the rear… 50/50 that it could be an in production design
Bassfighter said on 13th January 2009, 8:25
what does fisi on that picture without shirt -.- give him his race suit.
I like the livery though… including the first girl^^ :P
sumedh said on 13th January 2009, 8:25
As an Indian; I am proud to see that livery.
As a neutral; the colors look awesome. Stick with it!!!
v8 said on 13th January 2009, 8:39
av had a rather long hiatus from the blog but am glad to be back.
i hope this is not the official force india livery it makes the car look like a go cart made of boxes. it would be majestical poor taste……
Jay said on 13th January 2009, 8:41
Sumedh…you gotta to be kidding me. I guess it takes an Indian to appreciate it, maybe that was VJM’s goal when he went down to the paint shop.
I don’t know, this seems too partiotic to me, pretty quintessential. My advice to VJ, if you want to patriotic, use the sky blue that the rest of the indian sports bodies use. The Indian Cricket shirts are class
ajokay said on 13th January 2009, 8:59
I don’t care what livery they use as long as they get rid of their current one that looks like a McLaren at distance, or even at mid-distance.
I think it should be written into the F1 rules that each team should have a distinct livery, in no way similar to any other.
LJH - Brits on Pole said on 13th January 2009, 12:39
Wa-hey! Fisi with his kit off! Way to go…
Never mind Ferraris. This, Keith, is what a significant proportion of your discerning readership wants and the undoubted cause of your server outage last night.
I’m trying to find an excuse to use this picture on our site at a large size, possibly under the headline: “A purely gratuitous picture of a good-looking Italian with his shirt off.”
Never let it be said that Force India isn’t promoting equal opportunities in F1, at least as far as eye-candy goes. It’ll be a tragedy when he finally retires.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 13th January 2009, 13:43
Think it should be the new header image?
Mussolini's pet cat said on 13th January 2009, 12:43
LJH, prefer pic 1
LJH - Brits on Pole said on 13th January 2009, 12:51
MPC: Let a thousand flowers bloom :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 13th January 2009, 13:41
Pitpass has some different pics of the calendar showing the 2008 car.
Andy said on 13th January 2009, 15:12
They’re not just different pics, like a different month – they’re a completely different design of the same calendar.
The Fisi pics (and pecs) appear on the Feb09 page of the calendar both here and on Pitpass.
So what’s going on? Is the 2008 car on an old version of the calendar which has been hastily replaced because the new livery has been settled on? Or perhaps a decision has been made to drop the old livery but nothing’s in place to replace it, forcing a ‘holding’ design with the colours of the Indian flag?
At any rate, we can be glad FI’s drivers are not Bourdais and Davidson…
Patrickl said on 13th January 2009, 22:08
Lol, on pitpass that they claim that Fisi and Sutil can forget a job as an air steward after this :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 13th January 2009, 23:42
I hear Ron Dennis is hiring
Pete Walker said on 13th January 2009, 13:46
Isn’t that the whole point of Force India F1?
Personally I think its great. I expected to see this sort of colour scheme last season. On various blogs and sites I’m increasingly seeing Force India referred to as the McLaren B-Team and its good to see them trying to retain their own identity.
Plus in that Fisi shot, the green section reminds me of the old Marlboro McLarens. Only green. Obviously. :D
LJH - Brits on Pole said on 13th January 2009, 13:50
> Think it should be the new header image?
:D
Sadly, it might not be *quite* the right branding for you. Otherwise, I’d say: go for it!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 13th January 2009, 15:30
Could be a new niche: who’ll be first to create a gay Formula 1 blog? Or has someone got there first?
anirudh said on 13th January 2009, 16:00
yeeeeee Im famous !!! :D
Now into the topic…. some other non-F1 teams also have liverys similar to Force India, like FMS of gp2 and WSR team Draco cus of their partnership. Now, no way these teams are gonna don that saffron-green livery.(or will they?)