2017 Force India F1 Team - Mercedes

[Santozini]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/forc ... ch-882630/

Seems like Vijay Mallya is already swallowing his arrogant words. During the launch of the new car he seemed quite optimistic, borderline arrogant, especially towards Renault

[IamLegend]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/forc ... ch-882630/

Seems like Vijay Mallya is already swallowing his arrogant words. During the launch of the new car he seemed quite optimistic, borderline arrogant, especially towards Renault

1. I didn't know it was arrogant to dream and you know dream the impossible sometimes? Being the underdog, trying to beat the big boys. Teams like McLaren, Williams etc wouldn't have been where they are today if they hadn't.

2. Renault's Head or some other big wig was first to take a dig at SFi, so it's perfectly fine to respond or reciprocate and call them on their BS.

3. Also read the very last line,
"It is not that far off and is going to be very close between the Renault, Toro Rosso and the Williams/Force India – with Williams having slight advantage at the moment."

"Race pace-wise I think it is maybe a different picture, and that is the area we are working on."

I think they are very confident with their package especially with it's Race pace, for the 1 lap qualifying - let's see how they perform.

As a team/constructor I see SFi scoring more points over Williams provided both their cars finish because as last year their Driver line-up is solid. Ocon has shown he can deliver, I can't say the same about Williams with their rookie Lance Stroll who has a lot of learning to do and steep slope to climb.

Only Massa is the big "if" here, because he loves this type of a car with wider wheels and better grip which suites his diving, so if he breaks into the top 3 occasionally, it'll be a challenge for SFi. Let's wait and see how it all transpires.

[Santozini]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/forc ... ch-882630/

Seems like Vijay Mallya is already swallowing his arrogant words. During the launch of the new car he seemed quite optimistic, borderline arrogant, especially towards Renault

1. I didn't know it was arrogant to dream and you know dream the impossible sometimes? Being the underdog, trying to beat the big boys. Teams like McLaren, Williams etc wouldn't have been where they are today if they hadn't.

I'm sorry, i couldn't resist

Back on topic, i agree with you in some point, still think Vijay Mallya was arrogant during the launch speech, not Bob Fernley, he is being reasonable.

[IamLegend]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/forc ... ch-882630/

Seems like Vijay Mallya is already swallowing his arrogant words. During the launch of the new car he seemed quite optimistic, borderline arrogant, especially towards Renault

1. I didn't know it was arrogant to dream and you know dream the impossible sometimes? Being the underdog, trying to beat the big boys. Teams like McLaren, Williams etc wouldn't have been where they are today if they hadn't.

I'm sorry, i couldn't resist

Back on topic, i agree with you in some point, still think Vijay Mallya was arrogant during the launch speech, not Bob Fernley, he is being reasonable.

Don't resist, but also read my reply completely please. Pasting Point #2 again if you missed it.

2. Renault's Head or some other big wig was first to take a dig at SFi, so it's perfectly fine to respond or reciprocate and call them on their BS.

[Santozini]

1. I didn't know it was arrogant to dream and you know dream the impossible sometimes? Being the underdog, trying to beat the big boys. Teams like McLaren, Williams etc wouldn't have been where they are today if they hadn't.

I'm sorry, i couldn't resist

Back on topic, i agree with you in some point, still think Vijay Mallya was arrogant during the launch speech, not Bob Fernley, he is being reasonable.

Don't resist, but also read my reply completely please. Pasting Point #2 again if you missed it.

2. Renault's Head or some other big wig was first to take a dig at SFi, so it's perfectly fine to respond or reciprocate and call them on their BS.

Do you have a link of this first dig? I haven't seen it. You might be right

[IamLegend]

I'm sorry, i couldn't resist

Back on topic, i agree with you in some point, still think Vijay Mallya was arrogant during the launch speech, not Bob Fernley, he is being reasonable.

Don't resist, but also read my reply completely please. Pasting Point #2 again if you missed it.

2. Renault's Head or some other big wig was first to take a dig at SFi, so it's perfectly fine to respond or reciprocate and call them on their BS.

Do you have a link of this first dig? I haven't seen it. You might be right

Here you go: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128203

[Santozini]

Don't resist, but also read my reply completely please. Pasting Point #2 again if you missed it.

2. Renault's Head or some other big wig was first to take a dig at SFi, so it's perfectly fine to respond or reciprocate and call them on their BS.

Do you have a link of this first dig? I haven't seen it. You might be right

Here you go: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128203

That's far from taking a dig, that's being realistic. With the change in regulations aero and token wise it is undeniable that the big teams with bigger budgets will come on top...

[Mattchu]

I must admit i`m slightly worried for Sahara Force India this year due to one change ... the tyres! Last year I felt the ability to eek out that little bit extra from fragile tyres while still going at a decent pace was (imo) a great advantage. They also had 2 very experienced drivers in Checo+Hulk who could manage whatever situation was given. Many times we`d see Red Bull, Torro Rosso and especially Williams (which seemed a right tyre chewer) peel of into the pits several laps before the SFI and then end up behind, plus with the grunt from the Merc engine it would be difficult to pass.
This year the tyres look a lot more durable and don`t seem to drop like they did in previous years so this advantage (which i also thought Mercedes had) may now be gone altogether or at least minimized.
I`m hoping the car still has a decent race pace about it and if they can qualify slightly better it may be fine, the fact it has that Mercedes engine is a huge plus point.
They seem like a great team, you rarely hear them whinging, they just get on with it and must be doing something right as there seems more sponsors on the car than any other...

[IamLegend]

Do you have a link of this first dig? I haven't seen it. You might be right

Here you go: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128203

That's far from taking a dig, that's being realistic. With the change in regulations aero and token wise it is undeniable that the big teams with bigger budgets will come on top...

So Renault is aiming to finish 5th this year in the constructors but is challenging a team that finished 4th in the constructors last year?

By your logic they should be taking a dig at Williams and not SFi then.

[IamLegend]

I must admit i`m slightly worried for Sahara Force India this year due to one change ... the tyres! Last year I felt the ability to eek out that little bit extra from fragile tyres while still going at a decent pace was (imo) a great advantage. They also had 2 very experienced drivers in Checo+Hulk who could manage whatever situation was given. Many times we`d see Red Bull, Torro Rosso and especially Williams (which seemed a right tyre chewer) peel of into the pits several laps before the SFI and then end up behind, plus with the grunt from the Merc engine it would be difficult to pass.
This year the tyres look a lot more durable and don`t seem to drop like they did in previous years so this advantage (which i also thought Mercedes had) may now be gone altogether or at least minimized.
I`m hoping the car still has a decent race pace about it and if they can qualify slightly better it may be fine, the fact it has that Mercedes engine is a huge plus point.
They seem like a great team, you rarely hear them whinging, they just get on with it and must be doing something right as there seems more sponsors on the car than any other...

The idea to have such a low tire degradation was to make the on track action more interesting, that way the driver isn't driving conservatively to save the tires like last year. They expect them to go flat out, but here's the caveat. With the aero regulations this year having low and wider wings, you're so dependent on downforce and if you're following a car to overtake it guess what, you're not going to have that advantage with DRS or otherwise because you won't have the grip that you expected. So I'm going to say there's going to be a lot less overtaking than last year, but that doesn't mean it'll be boring. You'll still see drivers pushing the lead car to make a mistake and take the advantage on track that way.

And coming to my point, SFi are confident with their race pace from the data they have, now only if they can fine tune the machine to do well in the qualis as well, they should have it covered.

[lio007]

Worth a read:
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 36042.html
But it is in german.

[Sidhartha.techie]

Pretty in pink ?









Pic Courtesy www.auto-motor-und-sport.de

[Starscreamer]

I like the livery =D>

Ocon pink helmet:


Perez pink helmet:

[dodds_turbo]

So far this looks awful. I was a real fan of the black/silver, green/orange theme before.

[WaikeCU]

I really like it. It's breath of fresh air through the paddock. It looks FUN and I hope FUN is how we can describe the team.