F1: Force India Cannot Keep Current Chassis for 2019

The Force India F1 technical director Andrew Green has said that the team cannot keep their current chassis for next season. They were disappointed that the rule changes did not allow for them to carry over their VJM11 chassis to next year.

With the introduction of the Halo this year, it forced teams to replace their 2017 chassis. However, new aerodynamic regulations prevented the idea of teams avoiding the cost of designing a new chassis.

So, Green admitted that Force India will have to start afresh next year due to another change in the rules.

“Unfortunately there was also a regulation change for fuel,” he said. The statement was in response to the maximum fuel limit is being raised from 105kg to 110kg next year.

“Mercedes plan to use all that fuel,” Green confirmed. “That’s what we’ve been told, so we have to design the car to suit it.”

“That was disappointing,” he added. “We would have liked to but we can’t.”

According to the team estimates, redesigning its chassis would increase its costs by a million dollars.

The Silverstone outfit has already begun working on its 2019 machine. Their intension is to bring forward the introduction of any new parts it can use on this year’s car.

“We’ll obviously keep an eye on it and if we see areas that are transferable from next year’s car to this year’s car,” said Green.

“We’ve already started developing next year’s car, we’ll look to bring them to this year’s car if we can if it’s at all feasible. But there’s still a lot more from this car. There’s still upgrades in the pipeline that are going to make it through the season.”

Meanwhile, the teams will be preparing for the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim this weekend. The Force India F1 team will need to perform well to take the fight to Haas and Renault.