Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Force India VJM09 breaks cover in Barcelona

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Force India has rolled out its 2016 car on the morning of the first pre-season test in Barcelona.

The VJM09 was presented by race drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez alongside development driver Alfonso Celis who will drive it on the opening day of testing. The new car is an evolution of its predecessor and features a similar innovative nose design to last year's car.

GALLERY: Force India VJM09

Team principal Vijay Mallya says the team opted to retain the same look as 2015 after enjoying a successful season.

“The colours reflect our partners and heritage," Mallya said. "Although I’m biased, I think our car is one of the best looking on the grid and that’s why I wanted to keep a consistent look for 2016. As they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Force India joined Haas, Mercedes and Renault in unveiling their cars in the pit lane before testing gets underway at 0900 local time.

Follow live coverage and timing from pre-season testing 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.