FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Force India VJM06 launches in Silverstone

Force India unveiled its 2013 formula one challenger, the VJM06, today at the team's Silverstone base.

The most notable change to the car from last year is the removal of the step nose.

Driver Paul di Resta was on hand for the event, but there is no word on the second driver - Jules Bianchi is widely tipped for the seat, but he was at the Ferrari launch in Maranello this morning.

Team Principal, Dr Vijay Mallya said, “The VJM06 doesn’t look massively different to its predecessor, but beneath the skin we’ve looked at every detail to try and find more performance. I’ve followed the development of the car closely and I’m proud of what we have achieved. The objective now is to make sure we build on the promise of last year and have a strong start to the season.”

Technical Director Andrew Green said, “It’s a brand new car from the ground-up - everything is new. We discussed carrying over big chunks of last year’s car, including the chassis, but decided not to. There were still some gains to be had with the chassis, so we elected to take the performance benefits. The biggest change that everybody is going to notice this year is the fairing on top of the nose to hide the 'step'. It’s neutral as far as the car’s performance is concerned but tidies up the flow over the top of the chassis.”

Chief Operating Officer, Otmar Szafnauer said, "We’re very optimistic. We’ve been working hard over the winter, trying to make improvements where we know we can find performance. Everything has come together very nicely. We’ve also focussed on operational strength by bolstering our simulator programme and increasing our CFD capacity with new hardware.”

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