WorldMags.net
Force India
Starts: 131
First GP: Australia 2008
Best finish: 2nd
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 3
2014 position: 6th
The VJM08 won’t have much
mileage on it come Australia
“It’s never good to be late with your car,
but there are some positives in that it has
the same engine supplier and drivers”
SEASON
T
XPB IMAGES
Hulkenberg can
be relied on
to maximise
chances
Team continuity remains
with Merc and two drivers
SERGIO PEREZ
11
Age:
25
Starts:
74
First GP:
Australia 2011
Best finish:
2nd
Best qualifying position:4th
Fastest laps:
3
2014 position:
10th
NICO HULKENBERG
27
Age:
27
Starts:
76
First GP:
Bahrain 2010
Best finish:
4th
Poles:
1
Fastest laps:
1
2014 position:
9th
WorldMags.net
You know what you will get from
Perez. You just don’t necessarily know
in exactly what order you'll get it.
He’s proved he can be a strong racer,
and his qualifying form picked up in
the second half of last year, but there
is still a problem with consistency.
There will be some good days
and some bad days.
Hulkenberg is, for me, one of the top
drivers on the grid. He just hasn’t had
the right opportunity yet, which is very
good news for Force India. Whatever
the car is able to achieve, Hulkenberg
should get close to the maximum,
which could be very important if the
team finds itself battling on the edge
of a points finish.
MARCH 5 2015 AUTOSPORT.COM 61
PREVIEW
he truth is it’s never good to be late
with your car and, by only making it
for the final few days of testing, Force
India goes into the Australian Grand
Prix on the back foot. But there are,
at least, some positives in that it
has the same engine supplier and
the same drivers, so there are no
significant things to work through.
This is the situation the team faces, and it will
be interesting to see how competitive the car is
in Melbourne. Force India has done a good job in
recent years to establish itself as a top-six team
so it should be strong enough to recover from
this late start. There’s no chance that it will
be able to get the maximum out of the car in
Australia; it’s just a question of making the best
of it, trying to pick up some points and then
build through those early races. When you're
already behind, that’s all you can do.
Obviously there are some question marks over
the circumstances that have led Force India to
be so late with the new car, but all you can do
is judge the team based on what it has done in
recent years, which has generally been pretty
good. The question is whether it can make good
on the hopes for more podium finishes after
Sergio Perez’s third place in Bahrain last year,
or if it will slip back into the battle among the
small teams, with Toro Rosso and Sauber both
looking in reasonable shape and Lotus vastly
improved by Mercedes engines.
Force India is a team I know well, so hopefully
it can keep up the standards set in recent years.
But we’ll only really know what challenge faces
the Silverstone-based squad once we get to the
end of the first race weekend.
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Force India-Mercedes VJM08