Breaking news
Formula 1
Force India will switch focus to 2017 "sooner rather than later"
Force India has indicated it will switch to working on its 2017 car "sooner rather than later", but believes there is still more to come from the VJM09.
Darshan Chokhani
Edited: Jun 4, 2016, 10:23 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Next year's technical regulations overhaul is the most comprehensive since the move to hybrid power-units in 2014, making the timing of when to begin focusing on 2017 a particularly sensitive issue.
Force India was one of the few teams in 2013 decided to begin work early on its 2014 car, thereby limiting work on that year's VJM06.
With a decision likely to be made in the coming weeks, Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley has full faith in his team to take the best judgement on when to shift its focus.
“I think our technical team is experienced enough to determine when the switchover is,” he said to Motorsport.com. “It will be sooner rather than later.”
“[But] I think there’s still more to come out of this [year's] car as it is.
“I think that’s what we have been working on, but 2017 is another opportunity for us, and we have got to make sure we take that with both hands."
Force India achieved its best constructors’ result in 2015 by finishing fifth, and while targeting fourth would be a natural progression, Fernley thinks consolidating fifth will be key amid tough competition.
“First priority is to retain fifth [which is] a minimum, we will never stop racing,” he said.
“We should never underestimate the quality of teams like Williams who are ahead of us, so it will hard [to attain fourth]. But of course we will give the best shot we can.”
Underlying pace strong
By virtue of Sergio Perez’s podium in Monaco, the Silverstone-based team has clawed its way back to fifth in the constructors' after having started the season behind Toro Rosso and Haas.
And Fernley reckons Force India has now found its natural place in the pecking order after suffering bad luck in the first few races of the new campaign.
“I think we had the pace at the beginning of the season, the problem we had was that we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Fernley.
“[In the] first four races, two of the races we had both cars out on the first lap and if you position things with red flags or safety cars, that has done the most damage, we didn’t get the chance to do even better.
“Barcelona was little bit of turnaround with the upgrades coming in, but the car was good for first four races, we were just not being able to capitalise."
He added: “I think what you saw in Monaco is the optimisation of the Barcelona package. We have been lucky to get one car in the points even though in some cases we damaged ourselves.
“And to get both cars in points and score a significant number in Monaco and to get back into fifth, which is where we wanted to start from, I think we can push from now on and see what we can do through the whole season."
Interview by Jonathan Noble
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Possibility of strong Power Unit performance in Canada motivates Renault F1 Team
Next article Opinion: Is F1 too fast for bookworms?
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Darshan Chokhani
Mahindra hurt by 'bad grid position' in Qatar Moto3
Moto3
Moto3
Losail
Mahindra hurt by 'bad grid position' in Qatar Moto3
Kornfeil puts Peugeot in Top 3 on final Moto3 test day
Moto3
Moto3
Jerez March testing
Kornfeil puts Peugeot in Top 3 on final Moto3 test day
Dalla Porta takes charge for Mahindra on Day 2 in Moto3 test
Moto3
Moto3
Jerez March testing
Dalla Porta takes charge for Mahindra on Day 2 in Moto3 test
More from
Force India
Otmar Szafnauer reveals failed Kimi Raikkonen bid involving "Angry Birds" founders
Formula 1
Formula 1
Canadian GP
Otmar Szafnauer reveals failed Kimi Raikkonen bid involving "Angry Birds" founders
Esteban Ocon explains why he collided with Sergio Perez so often at Force India
Formula 1
Formula 1
Esteban Ocon explains why he collided with Sergio Perez so often at Force India
Former Force India F1 boss Fernley dies aged 70
Formula 1
Formula 1
Austrian GP
Former Force India F1 boss Fernley dies aged 70
Latest news
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
2 min
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe