Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley
expects to see a "phenomenal" rate of development as F1 teams get to
grips with the new rules next season.
Fernley says his team is optimistic that it
will have a good package at the start of the season, but concedes that
it won't be easy to match the big teams.
"I'm very optimistic for next year," Fernley told Motorsport.com. "I
think our technical team has proven to be very competent, and I see no
reason why they can't do a very good job in 2017.
"Until we know what other people have got it's not possible to judge,
but they are optimistic that they are producing a good design.
"The launch cars will obviously give us some idea of where everybody
is. Where the bigger teams have the advantage over the independent teams
is that they will be able to start flowing their upgrades through very
quickly. We won't have the resource to do it quite as quickly.
"But hopefully the steps that we'll take will be measured and we'll
be able to stay with it, more or less. We mustn't underestimate the
speed of development of the '17 cars. It will be phenomenal, certainly
in the first three or four months of the season.
"I think that it will be very tight next year. Probably people like Williams, McLaren, Force India, probably Toro Rosso, I think all of us will be looking at the fourth place fight.
"And depending how the three big ones go, if one of them has made an error somewhere, they'll be with us."
Fernley is adamant that the team didn't overcommit to the 2016 car in
order to guarantee that it would be beat Williams to fourth place, and
thus development for next year was not compromised.
"We didn't put anything into the 2016 car beyond what we'd already
committed to. The '16 programme has not compromised the '17 programme.
We were very clear about when we needed to switch over.
"We've been working on next year's car for some time. A lot of the
performance that came out of the '16 car was latent, and we knew it was
there. It was just a case of pulling it through.
"In some ways I'm quite excited about '17, because one of the good
things that we did in terms of being able to get things on a level
playing field is that we brought in the current wind tunnel and CFD
limitations.
"While we still have a disadvantage because of the investment that
the bigger teams have made in their wind tunnels, it's the closest it's
ever been to more level playing field. So you only have a certain amount
of time that you can operate with."
Motorsport.com
Force India Formula 1 team owner Vijay Mallya deserves more credit
for the team's rise to fourth in the constructors' championship in 2016,
according to deputy team principal Bob Fernley.
Fernley first met
the Indian businessman in 1982, when he assisted in the purchase and
then the running of an Ensign F1 car that Mallya drove to victory in
that year's Madras Grand Prix.
Since Mallya bought the ex-Jordan team, then competing as Spyker, in September 2007 and rebranded it Force India in 2008, the squad has risen from 10th in the world championship to its current fourth.
While Mallya has been criticised in some quarters for his
business dealings and rumours have often circulated about the
possibility of pulling support from Force India, Fernley underlined how
important his involvement has been.
"Yes, he deserves a lot of
credit," Fernley told Autosport when asked if Mallya didn't get the
credit he deserves for the success.
"Vijay celebrates 10 years in
Formula 1 next year. There are not many individual team owners that have
been around for 10 years and he continues to support it.
"That's fundamentally where it [the reason for the team's rise] is.
"I don't think it's any magic, it's just about consistency, attention to detail and good people."
While beating Williams to fourth in the constructors' championship gives the team a financial boost, with the difference between the 'column 2' prize money
paid based on the 2015 season for fourth and fifth being $3million,
Fernley stressed the key is the boost to the team's enthusiasm.
"It's really the moral boost," said Fernley.
"What it does is endorses what the team has been doing for the last three or four years.
"You can never underestimate the enthusiasm this will drive through the team and [help] bring it to the next stage.
"While
it's nice to have the extra funding coming in, that is incidental to
the enthusiasm it will put in and the commitment it will deliver for
2017."
Fernley also paid tribute to the calibre of the staff at
Force India, describing working for the Silverstone-based team as a
difficult option because of the responsibility each person must carry.
"Working for Force India is not an easy option and it's not for everybody," said Fernley.
"You
often get people coming to you and saying, 'I want this responsibility'
and we love to give that because it's not about dictating, it's about
doing it as a team.
"But with responsibility comes accountability
and a lot of people don't necessarily want that bit and therefore you've
got to be a strong character.
"It exposes your weaknesses, whereas in a bigger organisation you can cover it up.
"We have people that genuinely want to progress and are prepared to take the risks are responsibilities that go with it.
"That's part of the drive that has brought Force India to where it is today."
Autosport.com
