Force India VJM-03 Launch

[DazzlaF1]

Well seeing as the Red Bull RB6 has its own launch thread, seems only fair to give Force India one too seeing as they introduce their new motor at almost the same time.

[Sonic]

Last years car was solid (and occasionaly awesome) so if I were VJ the first thing I would be season long form rather than low downforce performance.

[52Paddy]

They improved a lot in 2009 and found strong points on the car (Spa & Monza's downforce settings). Hopefully that was the step they needed for 2010 where I expect to see them regular points scorers and upset the podium regulars on occasion if the car is any use.

[veeten]

despite what Vijay has been saying about his pressing problems with having his 'papers' in order...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81306

some have doubts about his participation in the F1 2010 Championship season.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39896

[DazzlaF1]

despite what Vijay has been saying about his pressing problems with having his 'papers' in order...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81306

some have doubts about his participation in the F1 2010 Championship season.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39896

Now that is unusual, Pitpass are basically saying they are the ones that broke the story, and got it printed in the Daily Telegeraph. Mallya of course has come out and responded to it saying that their participation is "not in doubt"

But it is very rare for the the very site/author that broke the story to come out afterwards and try to discredit the entire reply. That suggests to me that the original author is so sure of his story and there may be some truth to it.

Overall, I think its basically a storm in a teacup and they should get the accounts filed in time

[Saint Devote]

Well seeing as the Red Bull RB6 has its own launch thread, seems only fair to give Force India one too seeing as they introduce their new motor at almost the same time.

Two of my favorite pitlane characters were Flavio and Veejay. Now we only have Veejay to keep the irreverent partying going!!

Definitely deserves a launch thread.

[F1boat]

I don't trust pitpass very much. Very biased and vile journalists.

[truefan72]

I don't trust pitpass very much. Very biased and vile journalists.


exactly :up:

[DazzlaF1]

Well tomorrow is the day of their launch, cant wait to see what they come up with.

[gshevlin]

Dismissing a website as "vile journalism" is an ad hominem fallacy that does not address the underlying issues. Briefly:

1. Force India owed Ferrari money as late as last Summer for their 2008 Ferrari engine supply. This may have been solved via the deal that sent Giancarlo Fisichella to Ferrari as the short-term replacement for Felipe Massa.
2. Force India were known within F1 to be late payers throughout 2009. In addition, they experienced issues with their motorhome at one of the F1 races in 2009. The rumor at the time was that they owed the motorhome supplier as much as 2m Euros.
3. Force India have failed to file accounts with the UK regulatory bodies for their two UK companies as required by UK law, and they have been warned that the Force India UK legal entities risk dissolution if they do not file accounts very quickly.

The Autosport "response" to Christian Sylt's article in Pitpass about Force India failing to file accounts and being given a deadline is a classic example of media stenography. All that Autosport did was to print a statement by Vijay Mallya, without any comment or any attempt to question Mallya about the substance of the statement. Mallya merely denied most of the allegations in the Pitpass article, trying to present the accounts issue as some sort of minor administrative matter that was of no importance, but offered no arguments to back up his denials, and Autosport appeared to be unwilling to challenge him on any aspect of his response.
Autosport gets an F from me for this great example of a fundamental fail in basic journalism. Despite the hilarious spin I have seen from some folks on discussion forums, the reality is that Force India has been behaving like a cash-poor business for some time. This is nothing new in F1, where a number of teams have lived hand-to-mouth in the past (including current luminaries such as Sir Frank Williams, who kept his team running on a wing and a prayer in its early days), however, denial only has a limited life.

[F1boat]

We will soon see who is right and who is not. I am not a blind supporter if autosport either. But pitpass are truly low class, I still remember their accusations to "Toyota" which were never proved elsewhere. Not to mention the way they were insulted from A1 and after this removed all articles, only to show them again after their relations with the sport improved. They are totally laughable and I won't be surprised if they simply try to magnify the problems of Force India with negative journalism.

[f1indiablog]

Force India F1 team is all set to launch its 2010 Challenger VJMO3 today at 1530 hours( IST). Force India will launch the car online.

>Eagerly waiting

[christophulus]

Early picture:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/02/09/force-india-launch-vjm03-pictures/.

[f1indiablog]

The 1st picture of VJMO3

http://www.f1indiablog.in/2010/02/force-india-f1-2010-challenger-vjmo3.html

[f1indiablog]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_okcyx1ajmR4/S3EeDbhko-I/AAAAAAAABeU/F6alVkTJW9I/s1600-h/VJMO3.jpg

[Sonic]

First impressions; neat, tidy, an obvious evolution.

Looking forward to more pictures....

[jens]

Well, teams have taken different approaches to accomodate the bigger fuel tank. Ferrari/McLaren have made car longer, Renault wider, Force India has done both. We will see, how is that going to work out. Anyway, I hope the team can build on their late-09 promise and keep threatening top teams. :) The team deserves serious respect for the efforts of an amazing turnaround. Not long ago the team kept changing owners and never looked like moving upwards from being underfunded tailenders.

[Nick Brad]

No shots of the rear end, do they have something they want to keep a secret until testing or what?

[turismo6]

Looka like a very big car even around the nose tub area.

[Viridian Black]

http://twitter.com/ScarbsF1 has some insight on the Force India diffuser, albeit deduced from the release pics, where you can only see the upper part of the diffuser.

[DazzlaF1]

The nose area looks as bulky (if not, even more bulkier) than the Renault but overall I like it, they've kept the white, orange and green livery which is great as it was one of my favourite liveries last season.

[jonny hurlock]

shake down at silverstone

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/videos/force-india-debuts-2010-car_293/

looks like an evo of last year to me

[RS]

Even if Force India have accounting irregularities I guess they won't run out of money since Mallya is a billionaire and his companies are the biggest sponsors on the car!

[christophulus]

Paul di Resta is going to take part in all the Friday practice sessions this year, bar the Korean GP.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/02/10/di-resta-to-do-18-f1-practice-sessions/

Force India are the only team to do this. Either they don't think their drivers are capable of giving decent feedback, or they're lining him up for a drive next year. Or both :)

[52Paddy]

Nice looking car :up: I believe this year will be an improvement for them and expect them to score points more regularly.

I guess putting Di Resta in the car on Friday also means that, if Sutil or Liuzzi fail to make an event, Di Resta has experience of the car and isn't going in as a cold replacement. I think it's a good move.