2010 F1 season preview: Force India
Vitantonio Liuzzi starts his first full season since 2007 with Force India
Last year they got their first points, first pole and first podium. Can Force India carry the momentum of their 2009 breakthrough into 2010?
Car design
Force India made a clear step forward in the second half of 2009 courtesy of a late aerodynamic update to the car. It thrust them to the front of the midfield and, at Spa, very nearly won them the race.
When the team revealed the VJM03 at Jerez this year they talked about how they hoped to translate the 02′s strengths on low-drag circuits like Spa to make it a better all-rounder.
The other key component in Force India’s breakthrough was their deal to use Mercedes power. They retain the engine and drivetrain in 2010, and it’s still believed to be one of the most powerful and usable in F1.
The team often looked quick in testing but didn’t seem to be doing very many long runs.
Driver line-up
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to look at Force India’s points tally for last year and conclude it might have been a bit higher had Adrian Sutil not had so many collisions with other drivers.
His uncompromising style in wheel-to-wheel battle is exciting but it usually costs him more than he gains from it – like at the Nurburgring and Interlagos last year. Now entering his fourth F1 season, at times he needs to show a little more restraint to match his speed.
Vitantonio Liuzzi made the jump from reserve driver to race driver last year and has held onto the position giving the team some useful continuity in the driver line-up which many rivals lack this year.
Though not as obvious as Button-Hamilton or Massa-Alonso, Force India’s driver pairing this year is a battle to relish. Each driver has something to prove and for both of them the best way to secure their long-term place in the sport would be to emphatically out-do the other this year.
What’s more, the team’s new reserve driver Paul di Resta is poised for promotion at a moment’s notice. He’ll be driving one of the cars in Friday first practice at most race weekends this year.
Strengths
Force India are on a clear upwards trajectory and are benefiting from stability they sorely lacked from 2005-2008 as they passed from owner to owner.
The days of looking for Force India at the back of the grid are over and the arrival of several new, slower teams should keep them at the leading edge of the midfield.
Weaknesses
Several important staff members have left since the end of last year. McLaren’s Simon Roberts, who oversaw the integration of the Mercedes running gear last year, has returned to Woking.
More recently technical director James Key has announced an imminent move to Sauber. Key led the aerodynamic development of last year’s car and his loss is clearly a setback for the team. Long-standing business director Ian Phillips has waved farewell after almost two decades with the Silverstone-based outfit.
There will be more pressure on their drivers without the experience of Giancarlo Fisichella to fall back on.
Poll: championship position
Force India placed ninth out of ten teams last year thanks to their late points surge. How will they fare in 2010?
Where will Force India finish in the 2010 Constructors' Championship?
- 1st (1%)
- 2nd (0%)
- 3rd (0%)
- 4th (2%)
- 5th (13%)
- 6th (24%)
- 7th (27%)
- 8th (21%)
- 9th (7%)
- 10th (2%)
- 11th (1%)
- 12th (0%)
- 13th (2%)
Total Voters: 1,307
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2010 F1 season
Images (C) Force India F1 Team
U2 said on 7th March 2010, 15:52
5th will be more like it .. would love to see both drivers get points in each of the races
MigueLP said on 7th March 2010, 17:54
aparth from the low downforce problem
clearly their problem was the driver line-up having a line-up composed by 2 “sponsor” drivers isnt ideal
MigueLP said on 7th March 2010, 17:55
we all saw fisichella difficulties on the F60 a difficult car to drive though
Monad said on 8th March 2010, 6:57
I have a feeling that if there was a Hamilton driving that car it would have been a lot faster. Sutil couldn’t dominate old Fisi that we all saw he is a lot slower than top driver status and Luizi never made anything impressive.
There drivers are there weakness.
I’m still wondering why didn’t they try to get Heidfeld. His definitely faster than anything they got.
steph said on 7th March 2010, 16:00
I’m really not sure where they will be. Neither driver inspires me much and I think Sutil should have shown more promise to be able to have moved up to a better team. He has the speed but too many mistakes. This is probably Liuzzi’s last chance too.
The points changes will benefit them and they obviously improved a lot last year but I’m still not convinced of how solid or consistent they will be across a variety of different tracks.
Enigma said on 7th March 2010, 16:09
What kind of tracks suit Force India? We saw Belgium and Italy last year, but what about Bahrain and Canada?
Prisoner Monkeys said on 7th March 2010, 21:50
Impossible to say since they’ve developed a new car for this season.
sato113 said on 7th March 2010, 16:15
keith are you going to combine all the poll results in a graph at the end? would be cool.
Enigma said on 7th March 2010, 16:17
He said that he will combine the poll results at the end.
George said on 7th March 2010, 17:09
Pretty sure I’ve voted for some positions twice by mistake :D
Enigma said on 7th March 2010, 17:24
:) I’ve voted different every time.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 7th March 2010, 18:09
Yep that’s the plan.
Ned Flanders said on 7th March 2010, 16:21
Let’s not get too excited about Force India- remember the team has only had 3 points finishes since mid 2004 (excluding the 2005 US GP for obvious reasons). They are definitely improving but more often than not they were at the back in 2009. They’re talking about finishing 5th this season which I think is way too ambitious.
Also, I wonder how much money there is behind the team. They may have sponsors but most seem to be owned by Vijay Mallya. Take these sponsors away, and the car would look about as blank as a Sauber or Hispania
Rahim said on 7th March 2010, 16:35
I think the highest what they can achieve is 7th place…
And as far as the money is concerned…..i dont think they will have any major problem…Vijay mallya is a guy who will only get into something he’s really serious about….
But main thing is to see if he can Take atleast a podium this year
sumedh said on 7th March 2010, 17:22
Vijay Mallaya is a smart businessman. His style might remind many of Flavio Briatore.
His Indian Premier League team “Bangalore Royal Challengers” transformed from finishing second to last in the first edition to 2nd in the second edition of the tournament. I think it also had the second highest amount of profits among all the eight teams.
IMO, they can finish 6th or 7th (5th should be Williams). Sauber should be the other team fighting them for it. As an Indian, I have put 6th.
One-lap pace in the car is definitely there as shown by the “mock Q2″ we had on the morning of the final day test at Jerez.
Liuzzi vs Sutil should be exciting to watch no doubt.
indy Heer said on 7th March 2010, 18:06
yeah but he is a multi billionaire!!!! he is passionate with f1 and you have to remember that micheal mol still owns 50% of the team. financially force india are comfortable… 5th place this season!!!
car thick said on 7th March 2010, 21:27
HAHAHA here comes the financial advicer of VJ….ned for your info VJ is a liquor baron. He sells liquor in INDIA. think of the business he gets, he also owns airlines..he can own 2 more f1 teams …So dont worry about his finance he knows very well about his finance..
Forceindia developed their car only last year. TO see the timingsheets of barcelona I beleive they can finish in 5th…
Ned Flanders said on 8th March 2010, 0:07
Yeah he has money but he ain’t gonna go wasting his fortune on the team. I’m not suggesting they’re about to go out of business, I’m just saying they don’t have many (or any?) outside sponsors.
To everyone who thinks they’re going to finish 5th, I think you’re all a bit deluded. One swallow doesn’t make a summer
Rahim said on 7th March 2010, 16:25
Yea would be interesting to see….
I think Force India can achieve a lot more….they can traditionally turn into a Midfield runners
Electrolite said on 7th March 2010, 16:42
Keith,
a bit higher had Adrian Sutil collisions with other drivers.
> a bit higher hadn’t Adrian Sutil collided with other drivers?
Cheers
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 7th March 2010, 18:09
Sorry – fixed it!
Red Andy said on 7th March 2010, 16:54
I think seventh place is a realistic expectation for Force India, provided they can develop at a reasonable pace. If Sutil stops making his errors they could be higher than that, but frankly I don’t expect much on that front. I would anticipate Liuzzi firmly establishing himself as the better Force India driver in 2010, to partner Paul di Resta at the team in 2011.
Scribe said on 7th March 2010, 17:04
Weal, from testing both drivers did seem genuinley excited about the cars, an it seems they’ve suceeded in keeping the car very low drag, they’ve been exceedingly quick through the speed traps, so it should still excell at the low drag circuits, also last years car was pretty damn good by the end, don’t forget that 2nd row qualifiying in Brazil, not the lowest downforce circuit ever.
So I don’t think they’ll manage 5th, Williams looks faster, an we’ll probably still be a more complete package, they could well be in the mix for best of the rest though. Sauber will be their big rival for me, but I feel these two are the cars we have the least idea about, so I voted 6th purley because Force India still has that underdog soft spot for me, doubtless that’ll be lost if they start visiting the podium.
George said on 7th March 2010, 17:16
Brazil qualifying was very topsy turvy with the rain though, and we know Sutil is a good wet weather driver (until he crashes).
Scribe said on 7th March 2010, 23:39
I completly forgot about that, an I watched all of it. Ah well.
Speedy Gonzalezzzz said on 7th March 2010, 17:15
7th place is my vote!
sijs said on 7th March 2010, 17:19
Having finished the previous season second last, a 5th place finish would would be a huge achievement for a team of their size. They were one of the very few teams that stuck to their development program throughout the season. If they could keep doing that this season too, then they have a realistic chance of finishing 5th. I see no reason for Mallya to abandon F1, as most suspect. After two years he has a car thats real, why would he abandon. I am sure he’ll look to keep the momentum going atleast until the 2011 Indian GP wherein he has a point to prove. As for the drivers Adrian will be looking for a solid season to help himself to a works team and Tonio has his last chance. And what more Paul too fighting for the helm, so they should be pushing each other like crazy.
JUGNU said on 7th March 2010, 18:11
I think part of Force India’s success last year was because other teams around them stopped developing there cars.
BMW, Toyota already knew, accept or deny that they won’t be in F1 next year. Williams said there new car is almost 100% new design and concept so they wisely discontinued 2009′s development much earlier. Same case with Ferrari and not much different is torro Rosso’s situation, which had to even make their own chasis this time so must be concentrating on it for a long time. Only Mclaren, Redbull and Brawn were developing till the end of seasonb and we have seen how fast these teams were than Force india, almost a full second ahead in Abu Dhabi.
I think they will beat new teams and Torro rosso this year that’s why i voted them 8th.
Cyclops said on 7th March 2010, 18:46
8th in my opinion. Williams and Renault surely will out-develop and out-score them. I think they will also lose with Sauber (courtesy of Kobayashi and more experienced staff). So I guess it’s end of midfield for them along with Torro Rosso.
Fer no.65 said on 7th March 2010, 18:55
I think their success depends more on their drivers than the car…
last year the car was reasonably good, but Sutil was very erratic and crashed more often than not…
I think Liuzzi will beat Sutil, just because he’s a bit smarter at the wheel and fairly consistent, while Sutil clearly isn’t. If Adrian settles down, we might see the Force India finish on points regularly!
Vikas said on 7th March 2010, 18:57
I think Kobayashi is a little over rated…give him a full season to prove his abilities…though i agree he is much better than trulli or glock