2015 was the best season to date for Force India under its current guise. The team has made a steady improvement since its debut in 2008 and last season they finished in fifth for the first time in their history. They also picked up a podium at Russia – the third for the team to date. For the first time in the team’s history, they are running an identical pairing of drivers for the third season in a row. Both performed exceptionally at times last year, but one certainly had the hand over the other, albeit in a different way to 2014. Despite rumours of being purchased by Aston Martin, the team remains, and will be looking to go one better in 2016.
The Drivers
Sergio Perez
2011-2012: Sauber
2013: McLaren
2014-: Force India
2010 GP2 series runner-up
Sergio Perez was one of the unsung heroes of 2015. As soon as he finally found a decent string of results, he was very hard to not notice. His opportunistic podium at Russia was the peak of his year last year, and should he continue to deliver consistent drives as he did in the second half of last year, he will certainly be flirting with the podium again should the opportunity arise. One aspect of his game Perez will need to continue to improve on however is his qualifying, which still requires some improvement.
Nico Hulkenberg
2010: Williams
2011-2012: Force India (test, then race driver)
2013: Sauber
2014-: Force India
2009 GP2 champion
2015 was a very mixed year for Nico Hulkenberg. Whilst he went and won Le Mans with Porsche, his F1 performance last year was somewhat patchy. There were some strong results, but a few crashes and simply some off par days saw his team mate finish ahead of him in the points for the first time since his rookie campaign in 2010. With no ventures with Porsche (or any WEC team) in 2016, he must remain focused on his F1 duties and being beaten by Perez again would put a serious dent in any real chance of moving to a top team in 2017.
Testing
Force India were very solid in testing, but the car proved to be rather quick, as well as fairly reliable. Their times were often towards the top of the timesheets, which is a good thing. They also did all eight days with the 2016 car this year, as opposed to just three with their 2015 car last year. The solid preparation should allow them to start off on a better foot than they did last year.
Prediction
Force India could well go one further than they did in 2015. Perhaps overhauling Williams may be a bit too much to ask, but it certainly seems as if they might be in slightly better shape than Red Bull, Renault and Toro Rosso compared to last year. The car this year is obviously based on last year’s chassis, which was one of the quicker cars by the end of the year. Fourth is certainly a realistic target for the team in 2016.
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