Force India have become the latest team to present the car with which they will compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. The VJM03, which will be raced by the unchanged driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi this season, was unveiled online on Tuesday morning.
The Silverstone-based team may have made a name for themselves last season, scoring their first pole position, points and podium, but they are hoping their new Mercedes-engined car will power them to even greater things in 2010.
“Our goal is to continue on the same path of performance improvement that we had at the end of 2009,” said Force India’s chairman and team principal Dr Vijay Mallya. “I don’t think I am being over-proud when I say 2009 was an exceptional year for us. The bare statistics say it all: one podium, one pole position, one fastest lap, a further five top 10 starts and 13 points.
“We’ve learnt from our experiences and we’ve come out a better team: resilient, resourceful and now resurgent. I hope 2010 will see this great progress carrying forward. We’ve got one podium so far but I would hope that, this time next year, I’m talking about more points and more podiums. I’m confident we can get this, why not aim high?” Formula1
Adrian Sutil said he expected Force India to be strong in 2010 as the team unveiled the car.
“This is the first time we have been completely on schedule,” said Sutil.
“This is the first season when I can show from the beginning to end what is possible on the car and what I can do. It’s important to be consistent.”
The team opted out of last week’s opening winter test in Valencia but will join the rest of the 2010 grid, with the exception of new teams Lotus F1, USF1 and Campos Meta 1, in Spain for this week’s four-day test.
Despite finishing ninth out of 10 teams, Force India had a landmark season in 2009, storming to their first pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, which Giancarlo Fisichella converted into a first podium as he finished second. BBC Sport
Sutil himself qualified on the front row for the Italian Grand Prix before finishing fourth at Monza and is hoping the momentum can be sustained in 2010.
“My aim for this season is to be competitive throughout the season,” the German told the team’s website.
“We want to start strong and we want to end up strong.”
“When (team owner) Vijay (Mallya) joined the team and bought the team that was the point where everything went in the right direction.”
“Last year was the first real Force India year and it was already very successful.”
Sutil added: “I hope we will have a good season and I am pretty confident we will.
“We have had a good winter and a very good development programme so expectations are high. Sky Sports
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