Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Force India denies B-spec delays

Force India has denied its B-spec car is delayed, following comments from Sergio Perez about its launch date.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley had previously suggested the updated car would be introduced in Monaco, before pushing the expected date back to the Austrian Grand Prix. However, on Thursday Perez said it would be the British Grand Prix, before the upgrade is ready.

“We are pushing very hard back at the factory trying to bring the package together,” Perez said. “We would love to have had the package for Barcelona, which didn’t happen, but I think Silverstone will be the first time we have a new package.”

Despite Perez’s comments, sources at Force India have told F1i there is no delay to the B-spec car. The team indicates the upgrade is so big the Austria delivery date was always planned to be the post-race test, with the change too big to analyse effectively during practice sessions.

Force India plans on testing the new car over two days in Austria - where only one car at a time will run - before having the B-spec available for both drivers for the British Grand Prix weekend.

Click here for a look at the revised McLaren-Honda MP4-30 livery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.