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Force India will be one of the first teams to show off their 2017 Formula One car after announcing a February 22 launch at their Silverstone home base in England.
The Mercedes-powered team, who have a changed driver line-up with 20-yearold Frenchman Esteban Ocon joining Mexican Sergio Perez in place of Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg, finished a best ever fourth overall last year.
The team rolled out their 2016 car in Barcelona last February, before principal Vijay Mallya had his Indian diplomatic passport revoked in April with a judge in Mumbai issuing a non bailable warrant for his arrest.
Indian authorities trying to recover about $1.4 billion from his collapsed Kingfisher Airlines want to question Mallya, who last March flew to Britain where he has an indefinite right of residency.
Mallya attended only one race in 2016, the British Grand Prix at the circuit across the road from the team’s factory, and watched the rest remotely. Mercedes, Formula One’s dominant team, will present their 2017 car at Silverstone on February 23.
The reigning champions will ‘unveil the beast to the world’ at the British Grand Prix circuit down the road from their factory in the nearby Northamptonshire town of Brackley. Fans who register for a prize draw on Facebook will have the chance to win VIP access to witness the first laps of the W08 challenger.
Mercedes won 19 of 21 races last season and started all but one from pole position. They will start the season in Australia in March as favourites for a fourth successive title, with Britain’s triple world champion Lewis Hamilton leading the campaign in the absence of former rival and teammate Nico Rosberg.
The German driver stunned Formula One by announcing his retirement five days after winning a first title in Abu Dhabi in late November, saying he had reached the peak and achieved his ambition.
The 2017 season will see wider tyres, faster cars and revised aerodynamics with Mercedes likely to face a tougher test from rivals Red Bull and Ferrari. “I hope we can be as
successful as we’ve been in 2016.
It was not always an easy ride and I don’t expect it to be any easier in 2017 but certainly one thing, it’s going to be good fun again,” said team boss Toto Wolff in a New Year’s message. Ferrari will be next out on the following day in Italy.
Pre-season testing starts shortly afterwards in Barcelona on February 27 with other teams expected to present their cars at the Circuit de Catalunya on the opening day. Teams usually leave launches as late as possible, unless they are just to show off a new livery on an old car, to give themselves as much time as they can to finalise new developments.
They will want to start testing with the new cars, however, because 2017 sees the new rules that could shake up the pecking order.
