Force India complies with larger number display rule

Phillip van Osten 18/05/2017 at 17:1418/05/2017 at 16:46

Force India implemented a revised race number display on its VJM10 following the FIA faulting the Silverstone-based squad last weekend in Spain.

To help the fans in the grandstands and the TV audience, F1 told teams they must fit bigger numbers and the drivers' abbreviated names on their cars from Spain.

But Force India argued that because of their sponsor deals with BWT and NEC, adding 'OCO' and 'PER' to their cars would be confusing.

However, it was the location of the bigger race numbers on the pink cars that actually broke the rules last weekend and saw the team hit with a €25,000 fine by the governing body.

Fernley credits factory and team for Force India consistency

Present at a film day on Thursday at Silverstone, Force India tweaked the location of its numbers on the VJM10 for better visibility and added a three-letter driver name abbreviation on the shark fin, as the video below shows.

Last weekend in Barcelona, Force India COO defended his team's interpretaion of the new mandatro display regulations.

As you know, Force India does well on the track but is not as strong in the commercial area, which is related to the way revenues are distributed in formula one," he said.

"But the approach of the commercial rights holders is what it is, so we have to maximise the way we work with sponsors. To do this, we need to make optimal use of the space on the car.

"Personally, I think we could come up with a better way to distinguish the cars on the track," Szafnauer added.