Force India rolls out new car at third test

March 01, 2015 01:18 am | Updated 01:18 am IST - Montmelo (Spain):

Force India finally rolled out its new car for the upcoming Formula One season, with only two more days remaining to get it up to speed.

Driver Nico Hulkenberg took the new car, the Mercedes-powered VJMO8, for its maiden drive during testing at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.

While not as fast as the rest, the vehicle proved reliable as Hulkenberg broke it in with 77 laps in less than five hours.

The German, however, did end up at the bottom of the timesheet over five seconds off Nico Rosberg’s pace in his Mercedes.

“It was a very good day, at least in terms of the running we managed to do,” said Hulkenberg.

“We were able to run reliably straight out of the box, and that is very encouraging,” Hulkenberg added.

Force India missed the first pre-season test in Jerez and was forced to use last year’s car during the second test near Barcelona.

Hulkenberg is scheduled to get another shift, before Sergio Perez takes over on the final day of testing.

The season starts at the Australian Grand Prix on March 15.

Force India finished sixth in the constructors’ standings last season.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.