The Sahara Force India team will run with a revised 2014 car during the upcoming pre-season test at Jerez after delaying the arrival of the 2015 car until the second test in Barcelona.
The team are in Mexico ahead of the livery launch of the 2015 Mercedes-powered VJM08 on Wednesday, but will wait until the second pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya on February 19th to launch the actual car that will compete during the 2015 season with Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
Technical Director Andrew Green, while speaking to Autosport, said the team had deliberated between rushing the VJM08 through for the Jerez test and delaying it until Barcelona before making the decision to run with the VJM07 next week with only some aerodynamic modifications of things that will be present on the VJM08.
“There is an argument to say you are much better off using those three weeks to move the car along as far as development is concerned, and then rolling out at Barcelona,” said Green. “There are advantages and disadvantages to both. It’s not clear-cut like it was [in 2014].
“[Last year] you had to do the first test with the new power unit and the new chassis, you just had to get miles on the car. It’s not that critical [as it was in 2014].”
Green also admitted that the development error that affected them during the 2014 season prompted a delay to their 2015 design, and the parts that the team tested in the post-2014 season test in Abu Dhabi would benefit performance levels.
“It means the things we tested and learned about at the last races and in the [Abu Dhabi] test could actually get on the car for the start of next year, rather than it missing the boat and ending up on as an upgrade,” added Green.
“Or even not on an upgrade, because if you don’t have the latitude to design those parts in, you box yourself in and they never go on.
“The later you can leave it, the better. In the last few weeks [of the 2014 season], we were on quite a steep learning curve, which makes you think you should hold back.”
