Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Force India testing ‘major’ B-spec parts in Austria

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Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says the team will test “major parts” of its B-spec car this week in Austria.

Two days of testing at the Red Bull ring got off to a wet start on Tuesday, with the session red flagged for a spell due to heavy rain. Force India is running Esteban Ocon in its car on the opening day while Pascal Wehrlein will take over on day two, and speaking exclusively to F1i in Austria Fernley says there will be a number of key components which will be tested.

“We’ve already been delivering some of the undercover elements of it since Monaco,” Fernley said. “Those have been verified, they’re working and probably contribute partly to our performance increases over the last three races. So now we’ve got to put the clothing on it, so that’s the big piece.

“Major parts of that will be verified and collated over the two days. The key thing though is we’ve got to have two chassis and everything done for Silverstone because we want to have both drivers with the same opportunity.”

Asked if there is a risk two cars will not be available in Silverstone, Fernley replied: “It will happen!”

For live coverage of the opening day of testing, click here

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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.