Force India VJM05, 2012

Force India’s technical director Andy Green says the team’s new car is “a big departure” from its predecessor.

“We’ve got a new front wing which sets up all the basic structures along the car and it’s a big step for us.” said Green at the launch of the Force India VJM05.

“It took us quite a long time and to go away from how perhaps we traditionally worked. The package is a big departure from what we’ve done before and the wind tunnel numbers are really encouraging and we’re looking forward to getting it on the track and seeing if it does produce what it should do.”

Green expects the banning of exhaust-blown diffusers to close the field up in 2012: “The loss of the blown-exhaust is a bigger effect than lowering the nose. Massively bigger.

“We were quite late with extracting what we could from our diffuser last year and I don’t think it reached its potential by a long way. There were teams out there who extracted way more than we did. Hopefully it will hurt them more this year than it will us.

“We spent the winter trying to salvage all the downforce we lost and I think we’ve got close. My feeling is that it should close the field up. You only have to look at Silverstone last year [where the regulations temporarily changed] to see what effect it had.”

Deputy team principal Bob Fearnley said the team aims to improve on its 2011 finishing position of sixth: “I don’t think Vijay [Mallya] will accept anything less than fifth. I was pleased in a way we didn’t finish fifth last year, otherwise we would need to finish fourth this year!

“It will be tough as most of the teams out there are capable of achieving fifth in the constructors’. I think the battle for fifth place will be as equally as exciting to watch as the scrap for the top of the table.

“It’s not going to be an easy ride, by any means.”

All the teams will have to contend with the longest ever F1 calendar this year, featuring 20 races. Team COO Otmar Szafnauer said Force India were “almost at breaking point with the 18 and 19 race calendar”.

“We have put some systems in place to make it easier for the staff to help them on their travels,” he said.

“We’re prepared and I think we’ll do okay. They’ll all do the same races and we won’t be employing additional people to help trackside, but we’ve invested in equipment that should mean on a Sunday night they don’t have to strip and rebuild the car ahead of the next race. It should save them a good six or seven hours. So Sunday will be less arduous for them.”

Quotes and additional reporting by Dan Cross.

2012 F1 season

• Live: 2012 F1 testing day four – Jerez
• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Mercedes stay on top in Jerez test
• Live: 2012 F1 testing day three – Jerez
• Schumacher quickest on day two of test as Webber leads 2012 runners
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Live: 2012 F1 testing day two – Jerez
• Raikkonen leads Di Resta on first day of Jerez test
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car

Image © Force India F1 Team

Force India VJM05, 2012

Force India have launched their 2012 F1 car at Silverstone circuit.

The VJM05 is their fourth car to use a Mercedes engine. It will be driver by Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, the latter taking Adrian Sutil’s place at the Silverstone-based squad.

The team aim to build on their best-ever result of sixth in the constructors’ championship last year.

Di Resta, who starts his second season with the team, said: “The thing we’re going for this season is a stronger start than we did last year.

“Our momentum towards the end of the year was incredible and I think everyone is still on a buzz from that and it would be great to start from where we left off.”

“I want to do better, that’s my main focus. Last year we were very close to coming fifth as a constructor and we met our ambitions by finishing sixth.

“We’ll keep moving on, as long as it’s upwards, that’s the main focus. We need to push and carry that momentum from last year.”

Di Resta and Hulkenberg each have a single F1 season to their name. Di Resta added: “Hopefully me and Nico can work well together. We’re quite young but we’re very ambitious.”

Hulkenberg, who drove for Williams in 2010 and was Force India’s reserve driver in 2011, said: “It feels good to be making a return to F1.

“I was very happy when I found out because last year, sat on the sidelines wasn’t easy. But still a good year because Force India gave me the opportunity to prove my skills on Friday mornings.

“I think I improved and continued to learn in 2011, but in different ways. Obviously I wasn’t driving, but behind the scenes, on the pitwall seeing how everything worked – these are all things that should help me in races.”

Here are the first pictures of Force India’s new F1 car:

More images will be added here.

Quotes and additional reporting by Dan Cross.

2012 F1 cars

• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
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• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Lotus E20 launch - first pictures of Lotus's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• Force India VJM05 launch - first pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Caterham CT01 images revealed early

Images © F1 Fanatic/lsphotos.co.uk, Force India/Sutton

Bianchi drove for Ferrari in the young drivers test

Jules Bianchi will be Force India’s third driver for the forthcoming season.

The team confirmed Bianchi will drive in at least nine Friday practice session during the year and will drive the team’s new car in pre-season testing.

Bianchi, who is part of the Ferrari driver development programme, said: “Being regularly in a current car is the best way to learn quickly and I hope it will put me in a strong position to one day move into a race seat.

“The next few months will be really exciting as I get to know the team, see how they work, and prepare for my time in the car. I would like to thank everyone for believing in me and especially Sahara Force India for giving me this great opportunity.”

Bianchi finished third in GP2 in 2010 and 2011.

See the updated list of 2012 F1 drivers and teams

2012 F1 season

• Live: 2012 F1 testing day four – Jerez
• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Mercedes stay on top in Jerez test
• Live: 2012 F1 testing day three – Jerez
• Schumacher quickest on day two of test as Webber leads 2012 runners
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Live: 2012 F1 testing day two – Jerez
• Raikkonen leads Di Resta on first day of Jerez test
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car

Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

Sutil in action at Monaco

Force India have gradually improved from back-of-the-grid stragglers to among the most competitive midfield contenders since Vijay Mallya took over the team four years ago.

That progress continued in 2011 despite the loss of several top technical staff last year. The team ended the year sixth, their best finish since 2002, when they were still known as Jordan.

And they were just four points shy of Renault in the teams’ standings.

Vitantonio Liuzzi made way for Paul di Resta at the start of the year and the rookie impressed from the beginning of the season, out-qualifying Adrian Sutil in the first three races.

The pair inherited points in Melbourne after the two Saubers were disqualified. That aside it was a slow start to the season for the team, picking up ten points in the first seven races.

But the VJM04s made regular appearances in the top ten later in the year, scoring in all bar one of the final ten races. This was due to a combination of reasons.

They included the progress the team made with the car, Renault’s decline in form, and Sutil taking time to come to terms with the new specification tyres.

Sutil’s form improved around the middle of the season and he increasingly lead Force India’s incursions into the points. He beat Nico Rosberg at the Nurburgring to take sixth place and repeated the feat in the season finale.

Di Resta matched his team mate’s best result at Singapore after gambling on starting the race on soft tyres. But similar daring strategies in India and Abu Dhabi failed to pay dividends and were probably employed by the team in an effort to hold on to their best-ever position sixth in the world championship.

If so, this policy was ultimately vindicated. It’s possible they could have taken fifth, but they probably never expected Renault to do quite as badly as they did in the second half of the year.

Pit stops were another of the team’s strengths. Thought not ultimately as quick as the likes of Red Bull or Mercedes, Force India were among the three fastest teams in the pits on nine occasions this year.

An unfortunate exception was Silverstone, where di Resta was badly delayed when he happened to pit on the same lap Sutil had come in with a puncture.

The team continued its 2010 policy of giving track time to a junior driver on Fridays, Nico Hulkenberg taking over from di Resta or Sutil on alternate weekends. This usually did not disrupt their weekends except in Valencia, when Hulkenberg crashed the car and left di Resta unable to do more than a handful of laps in the second session.

More first-lap woe for Di Resta in Spa

More misfortune afflicted di Resta in Germany and Belgium, where he was hit by rivals on the first lap. But he had a few run-ins of his own doing as well, notably in Canada (with Nick Heidfeld) and Monaco (with Jaime Alguersuari), which earned him his two penalties of the year.

Those indiscretions aside, this was an impressive F1 debut for a driver who spent the last four seasons doing just ten races a year in touring cars, and lacking the experience at many F1 venues enjoyed by the likes of Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado.

It leaves the team weighing up whether to drop either of its drivers – both of which were impressive in their own right – to make way for Hulkenberg, who also clearly belongs in F1. A decision is expected within the next few days.

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Images © Force India F1 Team, Pirelli/LAT

Force India drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

Adrian Sutil

Adrian Sutil, Force India, Interlagos, 2011

Sutil reached Q3 for the fifth time in the last six races, equalling his season-best qualifying position of eighth for the fourth time.

He had a strong run in the race, using a three-stop strategy to catch and pass Nico Rosberg for sixth place: “It completes a great weekend where everything went to plan,” he said.

“I had a good feeling in all the sessions and the team did a brilliant job to give me such a good car today. We also made the right calls with the strategy because we knew there was a chance to beat Mercedes, and that’s exactly what we did.

“So I’m very happy with my sixth place – it’s the best way to end the year and it also means that I move up to ninth place in the drivers’ championship, which was my aim.”

Adrian Sutil 2011 form guide

Paul di Resta

Di Resta was three-tenths of a second off his team mate in Q2 and that was the difference between which one of them reached the final ten. He started 11th.

Force India continued their recent trend of splitting strategies between the two drivers during the race, and not for the first time it didn’t work out as well for Di Resta.

Running two stops to Sutil’s three left him with a particularly slow middle stint. On top of that he was nursing a car problem: “There was a concern with the gearbox around half way through the race so the team told me to just try and bring the car home,” he said.

Di Resta finished eighth: “In the final stint it was just a case of managing the gap to [Kamui] Kobayashi behind me and we had enough to do that quite easily in the end.”

Paul di Resta 2011 form guide

Nico Hulkenberg

Drove Di Resta’s car in first practice.

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Force India F1 Team

F1 pictures

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• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
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F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2011

Sebastian Vettel put Red Bull on top in the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Team mate Mark Webber was third fastest with the McLaren pair second and fourth.

The Renault drivers were out first, Bruno Senna heading the times briefly on his home track before pitting.

The next driver to head the times was Lewis Hamilton, before team mate Jenson Button beat his fastest lap on the harder tyres.

Sebastian Vettel edged Button with his last effort, going just five-hundredths of a second faster than the McLaren.

The Mercedes drivers were the first onto soft tyres, Rosberg getting within a tenth of a second of Vettel’s time.

Webber – still on the harder tyres – beat Vettel’s time by three-hundredths of a second, before Adrian Sutil hit the top of the times with a 1’13.113 on softs.

Fernando Alonso was the next driver to go fastest, lowering the mark to 1’12.765, before Hamilton eclipsed his time by a tenth of a second.

But it was a familiar sight at the end of the session as Vettel set the fastest time once again, then improved it to end up on a 1’12.460.

Button moved up to second, less than a tenth of a second behind the Red Bull, with Webber taking third on a 1’12.597, pushing Hamilton down to fourth.

Sutil’s time was good enough to put him sixth behind Alonso, and ahead of the two Mercedes. Michael Schumacher had a near-miss when he came across a dawdling Massa in the pit lane exit at the end of the session.

Massa ended up tenth behind Paul di Resta. But Sebastien Buemi was unable to set a time after a technical problem on his Toro Rosso.

Combined practice times

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
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Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Interlagos, 2011

The drivers who shared the front row of the grid for the last race were quickest in the second practice session in Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton headed the times in an uneventful session. He was followed by Sebastian Vettel, with the other Red Bull of Mark Webber in third.

Hamilton led the running early in the session on the harder tyres. Michael Schumacher briefly took over at the top of the times after switching to the soft compound.

Hamilton quickly returned to the top but Schumacher’s best effort remained within three-tenths of a second of the McLaren.

The Red Bull drivers were unable to beat Hamilton’s best time and Fernando Alonso took fourth.

Behind Schumacher were Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. The two Force Indias completed the top ten, Adrian Sutil ahead of Paul di Resta.

Shortly before the end of the session Sergio Perez came to a stop at Juncao, telling the team he had a gearbox problem.

Image © McLaren