Force India is contemplating with the decision of going into the race with a second driver. However, no decision has been reached yet that who will fill up the slot. Venturing into the season all alone, it will go into the first leg test at Jerez with only one driver.
This indicates that Paul Di Resta will have to take maximum onus to put VJM06, introduced at Silverstone on Friday, with its paces during the four-day test session beginning on February 4.
“Probably after Jerez,” deputy team principal Bob Fernley told in a conference from Silverstone when he was asked regarding Di Resta’s partner.
Ex Force India driver Adrian Sutil and the previous year’s reserve driver Jules Bianchi have both been associated with the vacant seat but the team is absolutely in no rush to make a precise decision in this regard.
“The shareholders will make their decision in due course. We know who is on the shortlist. We are trying to put together the programmes that are going to really take the team through a longer period than just one year,” Fernley informed.
Fernley was of the firm thought that getting along with just one driver on board would not contradict with the actual test schedule in any way and that Di Resta can take over the handed responsibility with sheer elegance.
“Most of the work we do in Jerez are related to the systems, so we are quite comfortable running Paul. Paul is a major part of what we do. He gives us stability and his technical feedback is excellent. That is why it is quite important that we optimise Jerez with Paul as it is the first running. It will be easy for a new driver to pick up on it once those elements have been resolved,” Fernley said.
Team principal Vijay Mallya was delighted with the initial look of the 2013 car. “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,” Mallya reacted about the team’s preparations and future objectives.
Technical director Andrew Green informed that the car has been prepared from the scratch and he was satisfied with the end product available elegantly at their disposal.
“It’s a brand new car from the ground-up. We discussed carrying over big chunks of last year’s car but decided not to. 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.”
With several hopes in heart, Fore India team expects to turn results in its favor this time around. The rest lies upon Di Resta in the way he steers the team.
