After running towards or at the back of the field in the Midland and Spyker guise, Force India made big steps forwards last year with its Mercedes-Powered VJM02 chassis. Both Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil shined at the higher speed low-downforce circuits such as Spa Francorchamps and Monza and the team are looking to build on the momentum heading into the 2010 season.
"I can’t remember a better winter build period for the team in the time since I’ve been here,” said Chief Race Engineer Dominic Harlow. “It’s been good in terms of continuity, the general feeling, and the aims and the goals that we are setting ourselves. That’s all been very positive. It’s still a time for change and regrouping and planning and so on, so all of that is going on as normal.
“But underlying that there’s just a confidence that if we carry on what we’re doing and believe in each other, then we will deliver. And unlike some other teams we’re not scratching around trying to put together a car at the last minute.”
With refuelling banned this year, the VJM03 package naturally features a much larger fuel tank to accommodate the extra load but in addition, the team are looking at the small details that could prove significant over a race distance.
“We were pretty systematic,” he said. “We looked at everything we could think of that affects fuel consumption – the drag of the car, the circuits we run at, driving style, the way we run the engines, the fuel itself.
"We forecast that forward to 2010 and came up with a prediction based on the worst circuit in terms of fuel use, which is now Valencia. Then you have some design factors to include, such as the way a calculated fuel tank size never quite becomes a manufactured one – it’s a slightly inexact science.
“The car balance will change quite a lot as the fuel weight goes down. I think it’s another challenge, and as always, the cream will rise to the top. It will help the fastest learners. And for us it’s where the continuity and the relative experience of our guys is going to favour us."
With an impressive 13 points on the board in 2009, the team hope that the attention to detail combined with relative continuity, will pay dividends this year.