Force India’s New Car Completes The 2018 F1 Grid

We now know how all the cars on this year’s Formula 1 grid will look after the Sahara Force India F1 team took the covers off its new challenger in Barcelona this morning, completing this year’s launch season. The car’s striking livery is an enhancement on last year’s and heavily features the pink, magenta and silver corporate colours of Austrian lead sponsor BWT (Best Water Technology).

Considering the team’s relatively limited resources the Silverstone based outfit did a superb job to finish fourth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship behind the big three of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

It has been an open secret for some time that they are thinking of amending their name and perhaps dropping the word India from the title, but there was no further news on this subject when the 2018 car, the VJM11, was revealed in the Barcelona pit lane this morning before pre-season testing began.

As with many of the other nine F1 teams, they have opted for consistency on the driver front and have again put their hopes for glory in the hands of the experienced Mexican Sergio Perez and the highly promising young French driver Esteban Ocon who is a Mercedes protégé.

Time will tell as to who has made the most progress over the winter close season and, despite the two four-day Barcelona test sessions this week and next, the true competitiveness of each team may well not be revealed until they all arrive in Melbourne, Australia for the first Grand Prix of the year on March 25th and the racing really begins. Bring it on.