The Force India F1 team has been forced to suspend work on key development. This is expected to last until the issues of its financial situation are resolved.

At the end of July, the team went into administration following a court order. Fortunately, they were able to compete in the Hungarian Grand Prix that weekend. Subsequently, they participated in the two-day in-season test.

Sadly, they were forced to halt non-essential work until new owners are found for the team. This also means that crucial new upgrades to the current car cannot go ahead in the meantime.

“The designs are done,” chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said. “It’s just a matter of paying suppliers to start building the tools and making the car parts.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, but we’ll be able to implement those plans,” he pledged.

“We should be able to have some good updates, hopefully significant ones, but only time will tell.”

The team urgently needs to start making progress in order to appeal to prospective buyers. Unfortunately, drivers Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez finished well outside the points in 13th and 14th place in Hungary.

It’s certainly a far cry from where they were in 2017 and before. The Silverstone-based team finished in fourth place in the constructors standings for the second season in a row.

This year however, the squad has slipped to sixth place behind rivals Renault and Haas. They are also a mere seven points ahead of McLaren. This just goes to show how close the competition is in the midfield this year. In other words, there’s still everything to play for.

“It’s still an arms race. If you bring new bits to the car and your make it go quicker you move forward,” he added. “If you don’t bring new bits to the car you go backwards.”