Force India will rename their team for the 2018 Formula 1 season with the announcement coming on the day they launch their VJM11, it has been confirmed.
The Silverstone-based outfit has been looking to change their name for several months now over concerns the current inclusion of ‘India’ could be restricting the potential pool of sponsorship.
Last November, the companies ‘Force One’ and ‘Force Formula One Team’ were registered in the UK and the latter is thought to be more likely to avoid confusion with Formula One, but a spokesperson was tight-lipped when asked by Motor Sport Magazine.
“We’ll rename the team when we launch the car, but we have no set date for a rename or car launch just yet,” was the response as Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claimed it would be in Barcelona on February 25th.
On the track, Force India know they face a tough battle to retain their fourth place in the constructors’ championship with two teams in-particular set to move up.
“Both Renault and McLaren look quite handy,” deputy team boss Bob Fernley told Autosport recently. “They are a significant threat and we need to take it seriously.
“We need to do quite a bit of work ourselves to make sure that we accommodate that and there will be no quarter given for those three cars.”
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The biggest factor against them, however, is the massive budget deficit between them and effectively two manufacturer teams.
“It’ll always be difficult to compete against the bigger budgets, but saying that, we’ve done it for two years in a row so there’s no reason why we can’t do it for a third,” Fernley concluded.
