Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Force India VJM08 breaks cover

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The Force India VJM08 has finally appeared for the first time during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Having skipped the first pre-season test, Force India ran its 2014 car at the Barcelona circuit last week to analyse the new Pirelli tyres while work continued on the 2015 car. The delay in completing the new car was attributed to a change in conditions from suppliers following the demise of both Caterham and Marussia last year.

The new car arrived at the track on Friday morning with Force India originally planning on running Nico Hulkenberg in the afternoon, but the car build went better than expected and the VJM08 hit the track for an installation lap in the final hour before the lunch break.

It wasn't the smoothest first lap for the new car, however, as Hulkenberg returned to the pits with a left rear puncture having stopped at the chicane.

Hulkenberg will continue to drive on Friday afternoon and will again be in the car on Saturday before handing over to team-mate Sergio Perez on Sunday for the final day of pre-season testing.

The first race of 2015 takes place in Australia on March 15.

Follow live coverage of day two from Barcelona here

Click here for the gallery from day one of the final test

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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.