Paul di Resta unveils the Force India VJM06
At Silverstone, Force India became the fourth team to unveil its 2013 car. While the VJM06 immediately took to the track in the hands of Paul di Resta, the identity of the second driver has yet to be revealed, as the team wants this day to be solely dedicated to the car and some important announcements.
A few minutes after the presentation of the Ferrari F138 in Italy, at Silverstone, Force India unveiled its 2013 car. As previously announced by Robert Fernley, the presentation was solely focused on the VJM06, with only Paul di Resta present, while the Indian team is still deciding between Adrian Sutil and Jules Bianchi for the second seat.
Failing an announcement, attention turned to the VJM06 which, unlike its predecessor, no longer has a stepped nose, covered by the now-famous non-structural cover authorized by the FIA. The nose features a bulge underneath, designed to better control the airflow under the car, as suggested by the Lotus E20 in 2012. Aside from that, with regulations changing very little compared to 2012, the VJM06 shares many similarities with the VJM05, notably its Coanda effect exhausts.
The technical director of the Sahara Force India team, Andrew Green, however, indicates that the changes made are more significant than they initially appear: « I pushed the guys quite hard to make them go beyond their comfort zone in certain areas. It’s happening under the bodywork, you can’t see it from the outside [but] the front and rear suspensions and the aerodynamics have been delved into: they did a really good job in the wind tunnel. The car is a step forward compared to last year and we worked hard to make it much easier to drive. »
Before setting off for the shakedown of the VJM06 on a wet track at Silverstone, Paul di Resta shared his first impressions of his new car: “I’m eager to find out what the car has to offer. We’re going to do a brief outing today to get an idea, but I think it’s difficult to set objectives, particularly at this level.” However, the Scotsman wants to work to continue the momentum from last season, stating that “the goal is to have a car that gets into Q3 and puts us in a solid position.”
Regarding the second Force India driver, Jules Bianchi, who was in Maranello for the presentation of the Ferrari F138, might learn his fate in the coming days while Robert Fernley reiterated that the designation of the second driver was not the purpose of the presentation: « The owners are thinking about who the drivers will be, but our main goal today is to launch the car and make one or two important announcements. We don’t want to mix everything up. »
Force India has thus announced that TW Steel is becoming the official timing partner of the team.
