Fernley: Force India’s delay is penalizing

The 2015 season hasn't started yet but Force India already seems to be struggling. Vijay Mallya's team has confirmed that the VJM08 will not be ready for the second winter testing session held from February 19 to 22 in Barcelona (Spain) following development delays during the winter break.

Robert Fernley told BBC Sport that these development concerns came in part from retards de contrat signé avec Toyota, owner of the Cologne wind tunnel (Germany), who wanted to ensure Caterham's situation F1 Team before concluding an agreement with the Indian structure.

The Deputy Team Principal of Force India nevertheless assured that the VJM08 would be ready for the Australian Grand Prix played on March 15 in Melbourne. “I especially wonder about our level of participation in the third test session (February 26 to March 1 in Barcelona). We should not attend the second session at all, although we are considering taking the car of 2014 to work a little on the tires and train the drivers. Hopefully we'll be there at the start of the third session with the 2015 car. Does that help? No. Is it penalizing? Yes. But I hope we won't be too affected. »

Robert Fernley also returned to Force India's vote which rejected Marussia's request to enter a car from last year on the grids for the 2015 season at the F1 Strategy Group meeting held this week. The Indian team was suspected of having opposed a return of the Russian structure due to the sharing of commercial rights. “It is impossible to say that the decision had nothing to do with money, but it was not made for that reason”, commented the Deputy Team Principal.