Breaking news
Formula 1
Halo created "huge" added expense for Force India
Force India technical director Andrew Green says the halo created “huge” extra costs for his Formula 1 team, because it meant last year’s chassis couldn’t be carried over to 2018.
Adam Cooper Ben Anderson
Edited: Feb 26, 2018, 2:34 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Force India usually tries to minimise expense through a set of stable F1 regulations by carrying over as much of the previous season’s car as possible in a new design.
But Green said extra work required to mount the FIA-mandated safety device for ’18 meant designing a new chassis and spending “in the hundreds of thousands if not million-dollar mark to put that halo on the car”.
“Expense-wise, it’s huge, because we had to do a new chassis,” Green told reporters on day one of pre-season testing at Barcelona.
“We wouldn’t have anticipated doing a new chassis this year, given the amount of changes that we made last year, which was huge for a new regulation change.
“For a team like us, we’d always look to try and get two years out of the chassis if possible.
“In that respect it cost us a huge amount to redevelop and redesign a new chassis - it’s in the hundreds of thousands if not million-dollar mark to put that halo on the car.
“It was a huge challenge [anyway]; for a team like us it was massive.”
Halo has "significantly" affected Force India aero
Force India has had to take account of another “big change” in the Mercedes engine installation for this year, while Green explained the VJM11 seen in Barcelona will undergo further significant modification ahead of the first race in Melbourne – in part because of the “significant” aerodynamic impact of the halo.
“From an aerodynamic perspective, the work is still ongoing really,” Green said. “There’s a significant downstream effect [from halo], especially around the rear wing area.
“It’s not designed to be an aerodynamic device. It doesn’t do us any favours in that department.
“It requires a lot of work to mitigate the issues that it causes, and we’re still actively working on that, and I don’t think we’ll have a solution until Melbourne.
“I’m confident that we’ll have it under control by then.”
The new track surface in Barcelona has also contributed to Force India’s decision to save proper performance work for the second pre-season test.
“We’re not really anticipating understanding the tyres until next week,” Green added. “The track needs to rubber in. It’s very, very different to this time last year.
“We did make some changes to the suspension to anticipate what we thought was going to happen with the tyres, and that’s yet to be proven.”
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 Performance gains not Honda's first priority in 2018
Next article Lance Stroll satisfied with first run in new Williams
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
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
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
6 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
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