Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

B-spec success helped secure Force India drivers' futures

Force India's success with its B-spec car is a major factor in Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez being convinced to stay with the team, according to Bob Fernley.

A move from Force India's own 50% scale wind tunnel to the 60% tunnel at Cologne was announced at the end of 2014, with the switch causing a delay in the launch of the team's 2015 car. A basic car was launched before the B-spec was introduced ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and Force India has been competitive at every circuit since then.

With Hulkenberg agreeing a two-year contract extension ahead of the Italian Grand Prix and Perez set to sign a new deal before Singapore, deputy team principal Fernley told F1i the success of the update showed the drivers the team has a bright long-term future.

"That was the whole process that (technical director) Andrew Green and his team looked at towards the end of last year, but as you know it took us a while to deliver it because of the change in wind tunnels," Fernley said. "We needed that change in wind tunnels to be able to deliver their concepts through.

"So they've done a great job and the race team has done a great job in managing to get the optimum also out of the first half of the season. So all in all I think we should be very pleased."

With Perez and Hulkenberg having finished sixth and seventh respectively at Monza, Lotus' double retirement saw Force India move 13 points clear in the battle for fifth in the constructors' championship and Fernley is optimistic about the rest of the season.

"Delighted [with Monza], it's the optimum result for us and you don't get better than optimum. I think we were relaxed with Monza. In all fairness, Hungary, Spa and Monza the car has been a top ten runner so I see no reason why it shouldn't also be in Singapore."

Click here for F1i's technical analysis of the Spa and Monza upgrades

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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.