Force India goes for conservative approach to 2018 car

It's likely Force India won't be blazing any trails when it introduces its 2018 charger, opting to play it safe with a conservative approach to the design of its new car.

The Silverstone-based outfit will pull the pink covers off its VJM11 in Barcelona on February 25, the day before pre-season testing kicks off.

Tech boss Andy Green suggested the design of the new car was partly guided by the complexity of the Halo safety device and its challenging integration which has led the team to go for a stable base this season.

"The Halo means you need to make quite big changes," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

"So we will try to be in a similar condition that we had with our old car for the start of the testing.

• Stability a strong point for Force India - Szafnauer

"The (2018) car is a bit more elegant but visually very similar to last year. We want to go to Barcelona with a car that we know works.

"It should be a good foundation that we can then start to develop with quite big steps."

Force India hopes to uphold its remarkable track record of consistency in 2018, banking on a competitive package which also includes its talented driver-pairing of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

Team boss Bob Fernley is expecting a charge from behind however, with McLaren and Renault both forces to be reckoned with.

"They are a significant threat and we need to take it seriously. We need to do quite a bit of work ourselves to make sure that we accommodate that," said Fernley last month.
"There will be no quarter given for those three cars. The three teams will be locked into a massive battle."

A battle to which the Force India boss might want to add Williams...

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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