Force India unveiled their VJM02 on Sunday, releasing images of a rather bright white, orange and green livery.
Team owner Vijay Mallya is hoping that the new car, which will be powered by Mercedes, will see Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil finishing in the points on a regular basis, saying there are "no excuses" for them not to.
"To be brutally honest, I would not be happy if we didn't show some much improved, and much needed, performance," he said.
"What we really set out to do over the winter was to put in place structures, procedures and partnerships that would give improvement, but crucially, no excuses.
"I would like to see a strong start, rising to points mid-season and a definite improvement in qualifying. Regular points finishes should be the aim."
Mallya, though, concedes that race wins won't be on the cards for his team this year, although he is hoping for success in 2010.
"At least from my perspective, winning races I think I can certainly aspire for maybe in 2010, but for 2009 I would be happy if we are regularly in the points," he said. "That would be already a major step forward."
As for the McLaren deal, which will see Force India using the Woking team's engines, gearboxes and KERS, Mallya says he isn't afraid of his team's performances being compared to McLaren's.
"By using the same drivetrain as another team, Force India now has a high-level benchmark of its own performance," he said.
"If performance relative to McLaren - the 2008 Championship winning team - is low, there are only a reduced number of variables that need to be analysed and understood.
"Due to the late signing of the contract and the limited time available for designing and building the VJM02, immediate benchmarking is not be possible, but I would hope that by the mid-season point Force India will have established itself well enough to accurately analyse its performance."
Source : Planet F1
No comments:
Post a Comment