A unique situation for Formula One

Force India go into the new 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship with a new look team.

Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil were both shown the exit door at the end of last season. Sutil managed to secure at seat with the Sauber team, but for Brit Paul Di Resta there was no room at the Inn and he leaves Formula One.

In come the returning Nico Hulkenberg, who after opting to leave Force India for Sauber for 2013 has opted for Force India over Sauber for 2014.

He teams up with Sergio Perez, who after a disappointing season with McLaren will be looking to get his Formula One career back on track.

As well as getting to grips with a new team of new drivers, 2014 sees a big difference in the regulations.

The first opportunity to see how the different cars are performing will be in Jerez in Spain on January 28th.

It will be the first time that any of the drivers will get to test the new cars for next season, after a huge overall of the technical regulations for 2014 onwards.

At the end of the 2013 Formula One season the sport said goodbye to the V8 engines and welcome the new turbocharged V6 engines with additional energy recovery systems.

Other regulation changes that go hand-in-hand with the switch are some aero changes, designed to reduce downforce, while the reliability issues of the new power-trains that have to be built to last throughout the season [5 per driver per season].

Those elements will see a large increase in torque and will require a whole new style of driving.

Of course the drivers will have all used their teams simulators to get a feel for how the new cars drive, but there’s nothing quite like getting the cars out on a track to really discover who is looking on form ahead of the first race of the season.

‘Never before there has been a situation like this, when with just a couple of weeks before the first test nobody has any idea of where everyone is, It’s a pretty unique situation for everyone. It’s a challenge, an opportunity to do something special, but on the other hand it opens up the opportunity to do mistakes, so we will need to do our work well.’ Hulkenberg told the Force India website as quoted by Sky Sports.

But whilst the form book may be turned upside down during the early stages of the season Hulkenberg believes the development race during the season will be key.

‘It is obviously always nice to start in a strong way, but it’s also very important to keep that strength during the year – the season is quite long, from March to November, A lot can happen in such a long time and last year was a very good example: the form of many teams came and went as the year progressed.

‘The target is to start well and try to maintain this kind of performance throughout the year. That’s the challenge – to keep up the development, bring new parts and keep competitive all the time.’