2017 Force India F1

This is a historically significant Formula 1 car, as it essentially served as a test chassis for the perennial 'underdog' Force India team, completing a staggering 2.574km of pure testing during that year's crucial update development programme.

During those test sessions, it was driven by none other than team principal Sergio "Checo" Perez and second-team driver Esteban Ocon. They were joined in testing this chassis by the up-and-coming Mexican driver, former Formula Renault 3.5 and GP3 driver Florian Celis, the well-funded Russian hopeful Nikita Mazepin, and Lucas Auer. The latter, an Austrian driver – who would later make a name for himself in the German national DTM touring series – is the nephew of former Formula 1 star Gerhard Berger, a driver for Benetton, Ferrari, and McLaren, among others. 

The test and development sessions of these five drivers in 'VJM-03' featured here were as follows:

April 18, 2017 – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir – Alfonso Celis – 168 km (morning) 216 km (afternoon).
April 19, 2017 – Bahrain – Esteban Ocon – 325 km (h)
April 19, 2017 – Bahrain – Sergio Perez – 379 km (hour)
May 18, 2017 – Silverstone International Circuit, England – Esteban Ocon – 42 km (hour)
May 18, 2017 – Silverstone – Alfonso Celis – 54 km (hour)
August 1, 2017 – Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary – Nikita Mazepin – 228 km (am)
August 1, 2017 – Hungaroring – Lucas Auer – 237 km (pm)
August 2, 2017 – Hungaroring – Lucas Auer – 215 km (am)
August 2, 2017 – Hungaroring – Nikita Mazepin – 211 km (pm)
October 31, 2017 – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City – Alfonso Celis – 297 km (am)
October 31, 2017 – Mexico City – Alfonso Celis – 202 km (pm)

During the following winter of 2017-2018, as the Force India team struggled financially, this test chassis was prepared as a non-running show car, as displayed here. It was repainted in the 2020 style, after the team was acquired in the 2018 season by a consortium of investors led by Canadian entrepreneur Lawrence Stroll, who had high ambitions for his son, Lance Stroll, to build a Formula 1 career. The car's livery now bears race number 18, the number Lance Stroll has raced under since 2017.

Of the five drivers who raced the 'VJM10-03,' 'Checo' Perez is the best-known and most successful. Esteban Ocon is a French driver whose father was a garage owner of Spanish descent in Normandy and who sold both the family home and the garage to finance his son's early racing career.

At 14, Esteban had achieved such success in karting that he was signed by a Renault F1 partner, allowing him to learn the ropes of world-class circuit racing in Formula Renault single-seaters from 2012-13. Over the next three years, he worked his way up through Formula 3, winning the European Formula 3 Championship in 2014 and the GP2015 title in 3, while also serving as reserve driver for Renault F1. When another Force India driver candidate fell ill, Ocon tested for the team in Barcelona, but in 2016 he made his Formula 1 debut with Manor Racing before being signed for Force India's 2017 campaign, alongside the admired Mexican Sergio "Checo" Pérez.

In their Force India team cars, both finished so consistently that they finished seventh and eighth overall in the drivers' championship. Only three teams scored more points in the Formula 1 Constructors' Championship than Force India: Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull. With these VJM10 cars, Force India led teams like Williams, Renault, and McLaren that year.

The Force India VJM10 Formula 1 car was designed to be competitive under the revised 1 Formula 2017 technical regulations. The Mercedes engine and gearbox defined the VJM10's overall layout as a long-wheelbase car, but the Force India engineering team, led by Andy Green, opted for a high-wheelbase aerodynamic concept, unlike the Mercedes factory team's preference for a low wheelbase. Chief aerodynamicist Simon Phillips worked with the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. The team was led by Otmar Szafnauer, under whom Force India demonstrated a highly practical, down-to-earth approach to race strategy, particularly regarding tire choice.

Some rear instability became a feature of the VJM10 design, but improved as the season progressed, though it was never fully corrected. This characteristic was thought to be aerodynamic, but certain aspects of the rear suspension geometry were compromised because the Mercedes gearbox mounts were tuned to Mercedes' own low-rake-angle concept, while Force India's increasingly high-rake concept – the cars were driven in a nose-down/tail-up attitude to achieve their optimum performance.

During the 2017 season, the four Force India-Mercedes VJM10s built saw the superior reliability and consistency of the design compensate for the larger development budget and speed of mid-range rival Renault.

The Force India team title, adopted in 2008, was replaced by the new team ahead of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, when their constructors' title was officially established as 'Racing Point'.

But as the yearbook from 'Autocourse' At the end of the 1 Formula 2017 World Championship, he summed it up: “Force India has utilised its resources almost perfectly…” And here we offer a lasting example of that heartwarming saga, updated to the 2020 show car configuration.