Australian GP - Force India - Preview

The Force India team completed the 2008 season without a single championsip point to its name, but the Vijay Mallya-led outfit expects to display better performances this year during its second Formula One championship under the FI guise.

In addition to the sweeping changes to the regulations which should favour a closer field, the technical partnership Force India signed with McLaren and its supply of Mercedes engines should allow the team to move higher up in the rankings and possibly gather those elusive first points.

This week-end's Australian Grand Prix will be the first opportunity to try out the VJM02 package in race conditions; both Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil return to defend the team's colours on the track.

Giancarlo Fisichella:
"Australia is a good place for me personally. I won the race in 2005 and started in second place in 2006 and with a car that was not as competitive as we would have liked, I finished in fifth in 2007. For these reasons, it's a fantastic track for me, but it's also a great track to drive."

"With a combination of short straights, second and third gear chicanes, this 16-turn track requires medium to high downforce and good traction is essential, particularly early on in the weekend when the track is 'green.' It is very slippery on the Friday as it doesn't get used very much over the year, and then conditions just get better and better for the race."

"There are a few chicanes in third gear so you need to have a good car under braking, but don't brake too much so you can still get into the chicane with a good speed. Turns 11 and 12 are quite quick and it's quite hard for the brakes, and the last corner is quite interesting. It's important to be quick but there is always a lot of understeer and the car slides on four wheels."

"This year the race will start a bit later at 17:00, so it may be a bit darker at the end of the race, but I don't think this will change a lot for the drivers. In Singapore we raced under the lights and it didn't seem to make a lot of difference from our perspective."

Dominic Harlow, Chief Race Engineer:
"The culmination of winter development and car build effort makes Melbourne an exciting and technically challenging race. The Albert Park circuit is hard on brakes and, being a temporary construction, has a constantly changing grip level. The weather offers plenty of variety for the teams to deal with, from 40-degree heat as in 2008, to rain disturbances from the southern oceanic region."

"For the first time ever the race this year will be an evening event, potentially leading to cooler track conditions, however Bridgestone's softer tyre will almost certainly struggle to resist graining and degradation."

"One very important fact to remember at this circuit however is the seemingly annual first corner accident where nearly five months of anticipation can be over in a few seconds. We have often seen Safety Cars in Melbourne, and it could figure again in this year's race, and the change to the regulations could particularly mix things up."