“We've carefully considered our plans for the start of the season and the introduction of the new Force India, the VJM04,” said Szafnauer, according to Autosport, citing the Reuters news agency. “The team will participate in all four pre-season tests and we will use the VJM03 for the first test in Valencia before the VJM04 makes its test debut in Jerez the following week.”
The test at Jerez kicks off on February 10, which will give Force India the chance to further develop their VJM04 challenger in the wind tunnel. And Szafnauer considers that a good thing, as he sees in-factory development a better way to improve the 2011 package than based on on-track running.
“Starting a test later with the new car gives us a couple of weeks more wind tunnel time when we are at our most productive to get the parts released for the new car. There is always a trade-off between running the car early and getting increased information for the aero department and we believe it will work to our advantage, given our size and resources.”
In the meantime, Force India still has to figure out who will actually run the two VJM03 cars in Valencia next month, as the team is yet to confirm its lineup for 2011. According to the latest media reports, Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta will feature as official Force India race drivers on the 2011 FIA entry list, but an announcement from the team is expected to be issued in 2 weeks time.
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