Force India owner Vijay Mallya has said his team will continue development work on the 2017 car, as Technical Director Andrew Green reveals teams are currently delayed on starting 2018 preparations due to the Halo.
Typically, September marks the point in the year when those teams either on lower budgets or looking to get ahead with their car development switch focus to the following year’s design, however, the FIA’s decision to introduce the Halo cockpit protection for next season has left teams hanging.
“We got some information over the summer break which has allowed us to progress slightly,” Green explained. “[But] we are still waiting for some critical information though, which is effectively holding up the chassis design.
“[The FIA] has given us a general layout of the car installation and racing installation but we are missing all the configuration for the chassis testing and that is the bit we design the chassis to.”
Talking about the potential implications that arise from the delay, he added: “Our development time has been compressed into days. It is going to be a big struggle to get to winter testing. There’s a big risk teams won’t make it.”
With the Halo the only significant change in the design regulations for next year, it makes sense for teams will continue development later into the season as the carryover from 2017 to 2018 will be considerable for most teams (but not all), as Mallya pointed out.
“We haven’t eased off. Development of the VJM10 continues and will bring benefits for the 2018 car too,” he said ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. “We are still bringing new parts to the track and both cars will have developments this weekend.”
As for Force India’s performance, it has been a difficult few weeks for the Silverstone outfit with the fallout from their drivers colliding yet again in Belgium. Despite that, the team remains 58 points ahead of Williams in fourth in the Constructors’ standings, a position they are desperate to keep.
“It feels pretty good for our team to be sitting in fourth place in the championship as we get ready for the Singapore GP,” he commented. “The strong showing in Monza brought us our 10th double points finish of the season, which is a tremendous effort by the entire team.
“With seven races to go, the season is rushing by quickly and we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year long. It’s about being consistent, picking up the points and taking our opportunities.”
