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Force India launch VJM03

Tuesday 9th February 2010

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Force India launch VJM03

Force India launch VJM03

Force India are the latest team to unveil their 2010 challenger, with the team releasing images of the VJM03.

The VJM03 packs no surprises, with a high nose and shark fin engine cover that many teams have adopted this year.

Having endured a rocky start to the production of the 2009 model in which the team switched both their supplier of engines and gearboxes at a late stage, design director Mark Smith reveals that the process went according to plan this time around.

"It's been a lot smoother," Smith told reporters on Tuesday.

"From the very beginning we designed the VJM03 in full knowledge of the engine and gearbox that we would be using for 2010, which gave us a significant advantage by comparison with respect to the same point in design time for VJM02.

"Fundamentally, key relationships are established and data is available to us much earlier. The result of this is a much smoother design and development process," he explained.

Smith admits that there is overall happiness regarding the car, despite other teams providing some dramatic points of differentiation.

"There's a little bit of variety out there but predominantly we are happy," Smith told Austosport.

"You will always see something on each car that makes you think 'that's interesting', but understanding how they work on your car is the key thing.

"We haven't looked at photos and thought 'we've missed something significant' and we're excited to get down to Jerez."

Smith added that the VJM03 was a 'natural progression' from the 2009 model, with only the back end of the car undergoing significant changes.

"The back of the car is the area that has evolved most as everyone has had a year of experience with the double diffusers so we've all gone into 2010 much wiser to what we can do," explained the Briton.

"There have been some refinements in that area and it's formed part of the make-up of the car this time around, rather than being added very quickly, as happened at the beginning of last year. It's natural now to design the car to take these devices.

"The gearbox is now a little bit easier to work around, and there are tweaks to make the diffuser potential bigger."

Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi have been confirmed as the VJM03's pilots, with Paul di Resta the team's reserve driver. Liuzzi will have the honour of giving the car its first run, when he begins Force India's pre-season testing campaign on Wednesday in Jerez.

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Force India unveil the VJM03

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