Force India VJM04

[CaptainRaiden]

Apart from the new blade roll hoop solution, nothing more to get excited about. Looks almost the same as their 2010 car. Hopefully they found something working "under the hood" better than last year. So far looks disappointing. I don't expect any major miracles.

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[CaptainRaiden]

Following in the footsteps of Mercedes GP from 2010, Force India has taken the same route as Team Lotus by introducing a blade-style roll hoop on its 2011 car, the VJM04. Technical Director Andrew Green explains its significance. Green – who rejoined the Silverstone squad last July - replaces Mark Smith as the head designer at Force India, with the former coming back to the team after designing its first ever car – the Jordan 191 – exactly 20 years ago.

“Everything is different, but visually a lot of it is subtle,” he explains.

“The most obvious visual change is that we've gone away from a conventional roll hoop to a blade. This gives us a small packaging improvement compared to a more conventional style.

“The engine cover is different, in-line with the abolition of the f-duct system, but there are a lot of differences under the skin that people won't necessarily notice.

“We've recovered a lot of the aerodynamic performance, we believe. We still have a little bit to go, but we are still in the process of the realignment after the end of last season because it does take a long time to move aerodynamically from one position to another.”

Added to this, they're targeting 5th in this year's championship, so not really aiming for the highest place yet. Mallya's dream of an Indian driver winning at the Indian GP in an Indian car (at least branded Indian, even though it's made in the UK :D ) would have to wait.

[N4D13]

It doesn't look really innovative for a car which had extra development time, does it?

Who cares, let's see if the real VJM04 has something special that we haven't seen. Until its track debut, it's hard to know whether what we ve seen is the actual car and not some kind of interim model.

[CaptainRaiden]

It doesn't look really innovative for a car which had extra development time, does it?

Yeah, as their technical director said, the improvements are really subtle and not really that visible since this is a simple evolution of last year's car, but according to him they have recovered a lot of aerodynamic performance, which is a good sign. Also, they're aiming to be midfielders, so I guess it makes sense to have a simple evolution to build upon their 7th place in the constructors table last season.

Can't say I agree with this step-by-step approach, but probably Mallya has a long-term plan in mind. Or MAYBE while running as midfielders this year, they're going to throw their money and resources on building next year's car, which would be a logical step.

[Malbec]

hmmm so Medion is Sutil's sponsor and the rest of the car seems covered by Mallya's own company labels. Given how notoriously tight fisted Mallya is I think its safe to say their budget is going to be pretty low this year again. Shouldn't have screwed Emirates over eh Vikram?

I don't see them achieving much this year especially as the technical team has been decimated since they last produced a quick car in 2009.

[Sonic]

I'm with Dylan, they seem to have lost momentum, and that Spa race seems such a long time ago. Also, if the number of posts in this thread is anything to go by they don't stir the interest of even hardened fans.

[Mia 01]

They have the engine and the KERS from Mercedes, they will be around.

[DazzlaF1]

I'm with Dylan, they seem to have lost momentum, and that Spa race seems such a long time ago. Also, if the number of posts in this thread is anything to go by they don't stir the interest of even hardened fans.

True. I think they will struggle this year which would be a huge shame seeing id love to see Di Resta show his potential. Having your design team (Mark Smith & James Key) split in two and go to Team Lotus and Sauber respectively will take a while to recover from.

The car itself looks great and should be quick but with the lack of designer experience, they will fall behind in the development race.

[Sonic]

Although saying that taking another look at the pictures of the launch car the inexperienced design team isn't doing to badly. There are some nice touches, perhaps unique, on this car. The deflector - that used to hold the wng mirrors - is very interesting, much more curved in profile that other teams, with a unique extra squared section at the bottom - I don't think I have seen that on any other car.

[I am evil Homer]

It's hard to comment on a team I don't really have an opinion on (I neither like nor dislike them) though with DiResta now as a driver i'll take more interest. The real issue is what can you say about a car that looks 90% like last year's? I like the colour scheme though, always have...

[wedge]

I'm with Dylan, they seem to have lost momentum, and that Spa race seems such a long time ago. Also, if the number of posts in this thread is anything to go by they don't stir the interest of even hardened fans.

Last year their developments didn't work out in the real world whereas in the season before that they more or less did and especially at Monza and Spa.

I like FI. Was sceptical to begin with but they're a good little team. I don't know why they don't stir the fans. They were a joke team in a former guise and back to being a decent midfield squad. Hopefully mid-2010 was just a blip and rectified.

James Key had a lot of praise for the organisation at the end of 2009. Very impressed by the staff, organisation, R&D & CFD. Wonder why he jumped back to Sauber?


It doesn't look really innovative for a car which had extra development time, does it?

Who cares, let's see if the real VJM04 has something special that we haven't seen. Until its track debut, it's hard to know whether what we ve seen is the actual car and not some kind of interim model.

The sidepods have a more aggressive undercut that last year. The inlets are narrower and more triangular in shape.

As well as slimmer sidepods and coke bottles, the other trend is placement of the exhausts and angle of attack over the diffuser. Any shots of the rear of the car?