Former Jordan and Jaguar designer Gary Anderson has singled out Lotus and Force India to impress in 2012.
The Irishman stood trackside at the Barcelona test on Thursday and later told the German-language Speed Week magazine that Mark Webber in the Red Bull suffered from “a bit too much understeer” in the new title-defending RB8.

He admitted, however, that the team may have been experimenting with setup, as the new Red Bull and McLaren have so far been “model students” in terms of handling.

Force India’s Paul di Resta, meanwhile, did not look impressive on the end-of-day timesheet, but Anderson said he was pleasantly surprised with the long-run consistency of the VJM05.

He said both di Resta and Nico Rosberg were both circulating at the same time with medium times, and the Force India was faster than the Mercedes, which was suffering from heavily-degrading tyres.

And Anderson added: “Lotus had to miss last week in Barcelona, but today they could confirm their good impression of Jerez.

“The car is fully sorted and the laptimes are consistent.”

Ferrari, however, is another matter.

“They are still using the coloured (aerodynamic) paint, which for me is a sign that the engineers don’t understand what is happening with the airflow.

“And just before the start of the season, that’s pretty alarming.”

Also trackside on Thursday was Sky commentator Martin Brundle, who confirmed Anderson’s view that the new McLaren looks “very good”.

Similarly, he added: “The Ferrari looks a bit of a handful, especially when it’s coming out of a corner trying to put the power down.

“It doesn’t look as bad as the McLaren did last year, but they’ve got some issues — there’s no doubt about it.”

Brundle also agreed with Anderson that, unlike the cakewalk of 2011, Red Bull could be set for a close fight this season.

“You can see Mark Webber working quite hard at the wheel,” said the former McLaren driver, “so I can understand why some of my mates in the paddock are saying it’s looking really close.”

While the smiles in the Lotus pits are obvious at Jerez, the same cannot be said of ‘grandee’ outfits Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton had his first try of the MP4-27 on Thursday and said the new McLaren felt “pretty good”.

“My initial feelings are pretty positive,” he added. “The car feels reasonably quick.”

But with every other 2012 car featuring a radical ‘step’ in its front nose, some reports believe McLaren may have missed a trick by opting for a conservative solution.

“It is not a trick or a loophole that we did not spot,” said McLaren’s technical director Paddy Lowe.

“Some people have some interesting ideas around the use of that step, and we are looking with interest at all of that stuff,” he told the Mirror.

Actually, the McLaren was not far off the pace of Sebastian Vettel’s new Red Bull, but the pair were a long way from Romain Grosjean’s impressive Lotus E20, and the 2011 Mercedes driven by Nico Rosberg.

Vettel, also getting his first taste of his 2012 machinery on Thursday, admitted there are “question marks” about all of F1′s regular pacesetters.

Nevertheless, “We are where we want to be,” the reigning world champion smiled. “It feels fine and as we expected.”

Agreed team owner Dietrich Mateschitz on a rare paddock visit: “It looks quite good but anything else would have been a surprise as the car is a development.”

Much more worried is Ferrari, after the aggressive 2012 Ferrari on Thursday looked no more impressive in Fernando Alonso’s hands than it had under Felipe Massa’s control earlier this week.

Britain’s Daily Mail said the F2012 is “ugly in more ways than one”.

“I can only say that it is going to take a lot of analysis to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together,” said Ferrari’s British technical director Pat Fry.

“I am not happy with where we are at the moment.”

Arguably even less happy on Thursday were Force India’s Jules Bianchi and Nico Hulkenberg, after the French test driver crashed the new VJM05 before setting a laptime.

There were not enough parts to repair the car and so Hulkenberg’s scheduled track debut was postponed.

“I’m very sorry,” said Bianchi, “because my mistake has cost the team a lot of time and effort.”

Force India’s Adrian Sutil is expecting the team to be overhauled by Williams for sixth place in the world championship.

Currently, the Silverstone based team holds a two point advantage over Williams with three races to go, while Sutil is 6 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello for tenth place in the drivers’ championship.

“Rubens is getting dangerous, and the Williams car is currently a lot better than ours,” German Sutil, who is contemplating moving away from Force India at the end of the season, told Auto Motor und Sport.

He said he doubts the Mercedes-powered VJM03 will be much improved for this weekend’s Korean race.

“I do not expect our pace to be much better or worse than recently,” said Sutil, who made his debut with the team in 2007 when it was owned by Spyker.

The 27-year-old said he has not yet made a decision about whether to stay at Force India in 2011.

“Not yet. It’s harder than I thought,” said Sutil.

“It’s not just thinking about next year — you also need to look further ahead,” he added.

Force India is unlikely to repeat its shock 2009 feats of pole position and a podium when it returns to Spa-Francorchamps in just over two weeks.
Last year at the famous Belgian track, then Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella paved his way to a Ferrari seat by securing pole position and racing to second place.

And two weeks later at Monza, his teammate Adrian Sutil qualified on the front row, finishing fourth and setting the fastest lap of the race.

In 2010, despite scoring 47 points to be a solid sixth in the constructors’ standings, the new VJM03 has been falling into the clutches of the improving Williams and Sauber cars at recent races.

German Sutil, 27, is confident about the forthcoming high-speed Spa-Monza venues but is not expecting a repeat of 2009.

“Last year we had an incredible car there, it was a big advantage. We don’t have that advantage any more,” he is quoted in the Indian press.

“Still, we should be able to score a lot of points in the coming races. We have a very good chance in Spa and Monza,” said Sutil.

But he is less confident about some of the other remaining races, pointing to the delay in getting the car’s blown diffuser up and running.

“We have to get it upgraded now, we are losing to the competitors a little bit in the diffuser area,” admitted Sutil.

Similarly, Robert Kubica says it is imperative that Renault finally gets its F-duct up and running for the final leg of the 2010 calendar.

“At Monza and Spa, we will need it,” the Pole is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Jun.15 (GMM)  Vitantonio Liuzzi proved in Canada he still deserves a place on the formula one grid, his team boss Vijay Mallya insists.

Heading into the Montreal round, speculation was rife that Force India was considering replacing the underperforming Italian with the team’s rookie reserve driver Paul di Resta.

But Liuzzi, 28, travelled to Canada with a new VJM03 chassis and not only outqualified his teammate Adrian Sutil but put in the team’s best qualifying performance of the season.

Starting from fifth on the grid, however, he was hit several times by Felipe Massa and needed to pit for repairs, but still finished in the points.

“I am so happy to see Tonio back to his best again,” Mallya, not in Canada last weekend while he re-launched his career in Indian politics, said.

“We believed in him and wanted to give him the support he needed to realise the potential we knew was in there.”

Jun.8 (GMM)  Force India will not lose its newly-appointed technical director to bitter rivals Lotus until after the start of next season.

It was announced last week that Mark Smith, who only replaced the Sauber-bound James Key in February, will join Lotus along with two of his colleagues “at the end of his Force India notice period”.

But Silverstone based Force India’s boss and co-owner Vijay Mallya on Tuesday said the technical team “is still very much intact”.

“Mark will stay with us until April 2011 and we will, in due course, announce a structure that will take us to the next level of performance,” said the Indian billionaire.

“I’m very comfortable with where we are as a team and where we are going.”

Mallya also played down the impact of Force India’s legal action against Lotus, Mike Gascoyne and the Italian wind tunnel Aerolab.

“The structure and any off track events are for me to worry about, so the team can get on with doing what they do best at the track,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, Mallya announced that Vitantonio Liuzzi will switch to a different VJM03 chassis at this weekend’s Canadian grand prix.

“Tonio will also revert back to the chassis used for the first four races as we continue to look into why he’s got the lack of grip,” he said.

Paul di Resta will sit out a third successive Friday morning practice on the sidelines of Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve next week.

Force India’s rookie reserve driver took over the 2010 car for initial practice in Australia, Malaysia, China and Spain.

But in the interests of maximising the regular race drivers’ practice time, the Scot did not drive in Bahrain because of the altered track configuration, or in Monaco “due to the challenging layout of the circuit”.

And Adrian Sutil or Vitantonio Liuzzi also did not have to give up their cockpit at Istanbul Park last Friday, because the VJM03 was fitted with “some new development items”, including the F-duct.

It has now emerged that di Resta, 24, will also not be in action on Friday ahead of the Canadian grand prix late next week.

“Paul will be back in the car in Valencia and will also drive at Silverstone,” team manager Andy Stevenson said.

“In Canada, we want to give our two regular drivers as much track time as possible.  The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a very unique track,” he added.

(GMM)

Force India has become the latest team to incorporate a F-duct style concept in its 2010 formula one car.

After McLaren pioneered the rear downforce-stalling innovation this year, teams including Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and Sauber have followed suit.

The already-dominant Red Bull is also expected to debut an F-duct this weekend in Turkey, as will Force India.

The Silverstone based team said on Thursday that the version for the VJM03 car is called a switchable rear wing or SRW.

“Should be a good improvement,” Force India said on its official Twitter.

Vitantonio Liuzzi told reporters at Istanbul Park that he and teammate Adrian Sutil will activate the flow of air through the engine cover and rear wing slot by covering a hole in the cockpit with their wrist.

“The target is to get into Q3 and then score points,” he said earlier this week.

“We deserved to have a double points finish earlier than Monaco, but for some reasons it didn’t happen, so we need to continue to put both cars the top 10 if we want to catch Renault.”

Ferrari, on the other hand, has modified its initial Barcelona-spec F-duct for Turkey so that the drivers block the inlet with their knee rather than their hand.

It is believed Felipe Massa is particularly happy with the change, given that in Spain he had to move his hand further than Fernando Alonso to block the inlet due to the position of his steering wheel.

Held at the state of the art Shanghai International Circuit on the outskirts of China’s largest city, the Force India Formula One Team will be heading to this event with high hopes of keeping its recent run of form going after scoring points in the first three races of the year. Adrian Sutil picked up his first points-finish of the year in Malaysia with a fighting fifth place, taking the team’s season total so far to 18 points.The Chinese Grand Prix will be the fourth round of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and the final event in the quartet of flyaway races that opened the season.

Team Q&A
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Dr Mallya, the team is currently sixth in the constructors’ championship and has 18 points from three races. You must be pleased with this progress so far?
At the start of the season I said we wanted to be regular points finishers and here we are, three races in, with three points’ finishes. It’s very pleasing when you see just how far we’ve come in one year: after three races in 2009 we had nul points and were tenth. The difference, I believe, has been keeping the focus on what we want to do. We’ve kept our heads down, got on with the job and to a certain extent kept out of what the other teams are doing – we’ve focussed on our own game. It’s a real credit to Mark Smith and his team that we’ve got the points we have. The team at Brackley and Silverstone are tight-knit, efficient and the results are now coming through.

You’ve made a lot about wanting fifth in the championship. Three races in, do you still think this is possible?
The grid is very tight as we saw in Malaysia and Australia and there’s no clear delineation between the front and the midfield. The most important at this stage is that we are still up there fighting. Renault look very strong right now but there’s still a lot more races to go this year and we have a clear direction about where we are going that will keep us with them, or hopefully leapfrog them. The drivers are confident and the team is working well so I think fifth is still realistic.

Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
Adrian, you scored your first points of the season in Malaysia. What were your feelings after this race?
It felt really good to finally get them. It was an exciting race as well in the end, racing against Lewis. Fighting against each other is always a pleasure, as we did it a lot in F3 and sometimes in F1. We have a lot of respect for each other; I am happy for him when he wins and he is happy for me when I do well. I was happy, relieved, proud – all of the above really – when we got to the finish. I knew we had the car to do it so it was only a matter of time before we scored some points. I’m now full of motivation for the rest of the season.

What do you think about the next race in China?
The next race in China will be a bit different but there are some similarities to Malaysia as well. The circuit layout is different, of course, but you need a good top speed, which we have, and you need a little bit of downforce for the mid sector, for the slow corners so I think it should suit our car really well. I don’t think we should be concerned about our performance at the moment, we are strong and we can fight in the top 10, and that’s very encouraging at this point of the year.

What is possible in Shanghai?
I’m confident, definitely. It was encouraging in Malaysia, and also the last races in Bahrain and Australia. I think we can show a very similar performance in China. Temperatures will be a bit cooler, but there is a long straight and you need to be very fast on that, and that’s what our car can do. It has also the downforce required for the slow speed corners. My feeling is that we can perform well again in Shanghai.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
What are your thoughts on the next race in China?
We are pushing to try to bring some more steps forward for the car. I have been in the simulator and we are pushing to bring updates to China as we want to be ready to score points again and not let our momentum slip. For sure it’s one of the circuits that I like, and I’ve always had good results there. In fact my best result in F1 was at that circuit – in 2007 Sebastian Vettel and myself finished fourth and sixth for Toro Rosso. We go to China pretty positive about our potential. It was good to finally get into Q3 in Malaysia and from there we have to hope for a good race. In Malaysia we were quite comfortable in the car and I have to hope that the luck stays with me this time and we can get some more points.

Do you enjoy driving at the track?
It’s pretty similar to Malaysia. There are a lot of high speed corners, and it’s quite technical, especially Turns One and Six and Seven. It’s got a flow as a circuit and there are some technical corners, and it’s always a crazy race because there can be some different weather conditions. So overall I’m looking forward to it! More points are the aim and we can do it, for sure.

Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
Paul, you’ve driven two practice sessions now. What are your key learnings from this?
It went relatively well in Malaysia. It was always going to be a difficult task as I hadn’t had any running in the simulator beforehand so it completely new to me and very different conditions. With the high temperatures and the different behaviour of the tyres it was an uphill curve but I felt I moved forward, I improved and I got some good experience. I didn’t find it physically tough but the heat and humidity was something else. In DTM you get very hot inside the car but this wasn’t something I’d ever experienced. It’s all part of that learning curve and I felt I acclimatised to it well.

You’ve also had the chance to sit in different cars, with you driving Adrian’s in Australia and Tonio’s in Malaysia. Is this a particular challenge for you?
Each crew has their ways of doing things as there are different engineers and mechanics but the cars are very similar. I am now getting a feel for how Tonio or Adrian want their base set-ups, but in terms of the programme it is entirely the same as the race drivers. At the moment I’m still conscious it isn’t my car so I have to be careful to build up gradually, be controlled and constructive and get the data for weekend

Have you driven on the Shanghai International Circuit before?
No it will be new again to me and I won’t have any simulator running beforehand so it will be starting from the bottom, learning the new track. At least I have now got some experience on this type of wide, Tilke track so it should just be a case of making steady progress again.

The rain that affected the programs of the teams on Friday was still pouring down at the beginning of the session.  However, dry conditions as of mid-morning allowed the single-seaters to roll out with more confidence on this test day at Jerez (this week), where Rubens Barrichello, did best time with 1:22.319.

Robert Kubica was the first to start out to a wet racetrack, with Sebastien Vettel in the Red Bull and Barrichello behind the wheel of the Williams FW32 following his trail.

Nonetheless, it was Felipe Massa, who did the first timed lap of the day with the Ferrari F10.  In his first attempt, the Brazilian made a time of 1:29.534, but little by little he found the rhythm until his car stopped on the grass of the pit-lane entrance.  It seems as though the team is pretending to go the limit.  There was the rumor that the car was deliberately left without fuel to confirm the tank’s capacity.

Michael Schumacher, Massa’s ex-team mate was slightly shaky during the first moments, achieving the best lap with 1:29.768 before taking his Mercedes GP W01 to boxes, where it remained the rest of the morning.  The spectators were surprised.

The changing weather conditions forced the teams to the difficult task of choosing tires.  Even though the pools of water in different parts of the racetrack were drying, the teams decided to play it safe and made pauses, waiting for the track to dry.

Barrichello informed through the radio that the driving and visibility conditions were quite good and hoped that the team could realize an evening session “to its fullest.”  Lewis Hamilton was glad with these news, who seemed distraught after he began his work with Jenson Button’s McLaren MP4-25, on Friday.  He declared that the day had been a waste of time, since neither him nor McLaren had been able to make a remarkable progress on their test program due to the wet racetrack.

On the contrary, Nico Rosberg, was filled with confidence after his second day with the Mercedes W01 GP, despite the fact that he was not allowed to drive in dry during two sessions.  He announced feeling comfortable with the car and to be sure that the Silver Arrow “will be near the racing pole positions when the competition begins in Bahrain, on March 14^th.”

“We have some valuable data, like all the procedures.  It’s difficult when you change teams; there is so much to learn.  It’s like airspace science, you know?  Two days ago I did four dry laps, and a one and a half today.  I felt extremely comfortable with the car, as if I could really up.  That gives me a lot of confidence, so I’m not worried with the fact that there was not much time to roll in dry” Nico assured.

The first appearance of the red flags came when Vettel skidded out of the racetrack and left the Red Bull trapped at the circuit end.  Yet, the delayed caused by this incident was minimal, thanks to the quick response of Jerez circuit recovery team.  In 15 minutes, the RB6 was back in the boxes.

At the end of the morning session began to improve quickly.  Barrichello did 1:22.319 after 39 laps and Massa stopped the chronometer at 1:22.697 after 94 laps.  The red flag indicated that Barrichello reached midday as time leader, three tenths faster than Massa.

The owner of Force India team, Director and Co-Owner, Vijay Mallya played down reports that Force India will disappear in 2010.

In an article presented by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, it was mentioned that the team based in Silverstone is facing the dissolution of the Great Britain companies, the reason being that it has not delivered their accounts since 2008.

“It is not unknown for companies to file their annual returns late, the reasons for which are varied,” Indian billionaire Mallya, declared.

It has been confirmed that the Companies House has granted an extension until February 25^th, to file the delayed paperwork.

“We’re taking all the necessary measures to guarantee the submission of the documents prior to that date.  Hence, participation of Force India in the championship is not and will not be in jeopardy; “ Mallya stated.

Meanwhile, a spokesman from the team clarified that the 2010 Force India single-seater, the Mercedes-VJM03 made its debut at Silverstone, on Wednesday of this week, not Thursday as was previously informed.

The Malayan ‘scuderia’, Force India has announced that the presentation of its new single-seater for the 2010 Formula One World Championship will take place next Tuesday through the Internet.  A day before the second period of collective testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit.

The new single-seater called ‘VJM03′ will be launched at 10.00 AM.  It seems that this year’s trend is to make presentations online; Virgin Racing will also launch its single-seater through Internet.

The car for the 2010 season has been created by a team led by the technical director, James Key and the design director, Mark Smith, and it will be the first one that is presented with Otmar Szafnauer as new operations chief.

Yesterday, Force India introduced its new test pilot, the DTM star, Paul di Resta, also assuming the position of reserve pilot for the 2010 season.

Adrian Sutil, who has just returned from a promotional tour in India, after two years racing in the Force India Malaysian team and being last season’s sensation, has expressed his goals for the beginning of season 2010.

The pilot declared that India is supporting Formula One very much, and that Formula One in general has established as strong reference in India.  “Fans are very enthusiastic.” “Of course, right now you cannot compare it with Europe’s support, but I believe that it’s in the way of becoming very popular, very soon,” he pointed out.

During the last two years, Force India has been one of the smallest teams of the grid, but with four new teams, it has repositioned as middle in the table.  “It feels very well to be a competitive team in Formula One.  The 2009 season was one of the most important seasons for us.  With good performances… and some wonderful surprises, we have been able to get ourselves a space.  Now, it’s important to continue with the good work and try to be even more competitive in 2010,” Sutil said.
“Other teams need to learn –maybe painfully-, how to work efficiently with less people and a reduced budget.  But this could take a while and thus, 2010 could be a great opportunity for us,” he added.
Let’s recall that the Force India pilots are the same who finished last season, Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

“I think this is another advantage for us, specially during the first races where others will have to find the way around their new team and find out how his team mate is.”
“In Force India there is no position in the team.  We’ll all have the same car and the same opportunity to give the best of ourselves.”
Besides Mercedes, the Force India showed good qualities in some races.  “I has always been great to work with Mercedes, and I’m looking forward to working with them again.  In my opinion, it’s the best engine and it must help us this season,” he stated.

The refuel ban is the biggest change this season.  How advanced can the VJM3 development be?

“All the team is working hard to develop the best possible car, and presently it seems very, very promising.  The new regulations are a great challenge for everybody, so to give a right statement about how well the new norms will have to be interpreted, we’ll have to wait until the fist test in Jerez, where the VJM3 will be driven and the first times will be known.”
The German pilot does not hide his aspirations, and it will not be an easy task to go beyond the good past season.