Alvin's Formula One Blog

Wake up! Wake up! The launch season is almost here and somebody has launched. With the launch season not expected until next week, the team released the first image of the radical new VJM07 - the livery mainly black with the sponsors' logos adding extra colour - on Twitter. Although it is difficult to judge any design changes, the new car's nose is a lot lower, as demanded by the new regulations. The only image we have is the car from the side and so far it looks fine to me. The nose does droop quite low but we've seen this before - on the McLaren MP4-23, also known as the "dolphin nose". I thought the MP4-23 was quite ok to look at. We'll have to wait and see more images of the VJM07 from different angles to see how the nose really looks like. Vijay Malya had this to say: The VJM07 looks stunning and the new livery reflects the way Sahara Force India is evolving," team owner and principal Vijay Mallya said on the official website. "I...

What rubbish is this? Just announced the setting up of the team with his name as Team Principal then now saying he'll be TP for a few races. Just to taste the glamour of being TP is it? Able to hang around with Vijay and Martin on the pitwall for a few races. My advice is don't even bother. Let somebody like Gascoyne run the show from the start and get things moving. Also, they announced the car will be ready by January and testing in February. 1 month of testing with last years' car is bad enough as we've seen before but this is suicide. I'm sorry to berate the team so much but I can just see their downfall. I just can't stand the wastefull lifestyle that these people lead. If they waste their money it's ok but this is our money. What the hell?

It seems that the Honda saga has come to a happy ending with Honda and Ross Brawn announcing the formation of Brawn GP taking over the old Honda team. Not only that, they actually have a car doing shakedown at Silverstone. The colours are a bit funny - black, white and lime green. Though I suspect this is only the interim livery before an official one is announced nearer to Melbourne. The surprise is that the engines will be supplied by Mercedes, or not a surprise when looking back at what Vijay Mallya said earlier about not minding Mercedes supplying engines so as not to lose another team. Hmmm.... And not only is Mercedes a supplier, I suspect McLaren supplied the chassis and body as well looking at the shape of the car especially the sidepods. Those sidepods are a dead giveaway.

Monday 2nd March 2009 Giancarlo Fisichella has admitted that it was a "frustrating" debut for Force India's VJM02 with it's first outing at Jerez blighted by a fuel pressure problem as well as rain. After completing a shakedown of the new car at Silverstone last week, Force India finally put their 2009 challenger up against its rivals at Jerez on Sunday. However, the team was unable to cover as much running as they had hoped to as a fuel pressure problem saw Fisichella sidelined for part of the day. Added to that there was a rain shower interval around mid-day as well as five red flags. Despite this, though, Fisichella still managed to set the sixth best time of the eight runners, even outpacing McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa. "It is a bit frustrating as we could only do 31 laps today, especially as it is very important to try and get as many as possible as we are already late compared to ...

Sunday 1st March 2009 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, althou...