Force India VJM03

The Force India VJM03 was a Formula One motor racing car designed and built by the Force India team for the season. It was driven by Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi and was unveiled online, on 9 February 2010. The car made its track début the following day at the second group test at Circuito de Jerez. In Bahrain, Sutil finished first in FP1. Sutil and Liuzzi then qualified 10th and 12th respectively. Liuzzi finished ninth, scoring two points, while Sutil spun in an oil leak caused by Mark Webber in the Red Bull before finishing outside the points, in twelfth position.

The VJM03 built on the progress made with the 2009 car and was a contender for points straight out of the box. But the team lost several top members of staff in the first half of the season. Among them was a man who had been with them since their first year as Jordan in 1991 – Ian Phillips. That setback for the team’s commercial side was joined by a double blow to the technical department. First technical director as James Key left for Sauber, then four months later his successor Mark Smith was also gone, heading for Lotus.

Losing two major technical figures seemed have an inevitable effect on car development. Although F-duct and exhaust-blown diffuser upgrades arrived for the VJM03 (at Turkey and Hungary respectively) the team weren’t always getting them to work consistently, and Liuzzi in particular struggled with the blown rear wing. As the season wore on Force India saw less of Renault and Mercedes and more of Sauber and Williams in the races.

The gap between Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil was large at times. Liuzzi was usually out-qualified by his team mate and the gap was often in the region of half to a full second. Liuzzi’s best qualifying performance, sixth at Canada, was spoiled after a collision with Felipe Massa at the first corner.



Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish, but was classified as they had completed >90% of the race distance.