Force India is the latest team to reveal its F1 car
for the 2018 championship, lifting the veil off the new VJM11 in Barcelona
during the first official test session of the season.
Long gone are the colors of its namesake country of
origin, replaced by the pink and magenta of sponsor Best Water Technology
(BWT). Underneath the eye-catching livery, the new chassis has been designed to
comply with the latest regulations – right down to its Pepto-pink halo device.
Power once again comes from Mercedes-AMG, which has
propelled the team since its second season (when it switched from Ferrari), and
whose latest M09 EQ Power+ unit will motivate the new VJM11.
Given its dominance of the current era of grand-prix
racing, the Mercedes powertrain has served Force India well. From the back of
the pack, the team has emerged as a solid midfielder, finishing the past two
seasons in fourth place. That’s fairly impressive, especially when you consider
that the team has yet to win a single race, and has landed on the podium only
five times in its ten years on the grid.
Driving duties will fall once again to Sergio Perez
and Esteban Ocon, the former returning for his fifth season with the team, and
the latter for his second.
Will 2018 prove the season in which Force India
finally scores its first checkered flag? Only time will tell, but it will have
to do so without the presence of its founder Vijay Mallya, whose initials still
designate every car the team makes. The Indian magnate has been pursued by
officials in his home country for money laundering, and was notably absent from
the team’s presentation in Spain – represented instead by COO Otmar Szafnauer
and technical director Andrew Green.
