Eagle eyed viewers of the Spanish Grand Prix, or just viewers who listen to the commentary will have noticed a change to the cars appearance in Barcelona.
Ahead of the Grand Prix, all ten teams on the Formula One grid were requested to make the driver numbers clearer and larger from the front of the car.
They were also asked to either add the driver number, or the drivers three letter abbreviation to the side of the car.
Most teams used the disliked shark-fins to achieve this, with Mercedes for example adding either the 44 or 77 alongside the British or Finnish flags.
McLaren Honda used the three letter abbreviation.
Force India however added their numbers to a different part of the side due to a sponsor taking up other areas, this meant the number wasn’t visible at some angles.
This appears to have contributed to the FIA stewards deeming that their car numbers failed to comply with the new interpretation of the sporting regulations.
‘The confusing thing for us is that we believed we were compliant because nobody spoke to us until after the race. The scrutineers actually checked the numbers on the cars on the Thursday. New guidelines have been set out, which are maybe not as clear as we needed them to be, but we’re happy to get on with it.
‘We just think it didn’t need to follow the route of going through the stewards. Force India sporting director Andy Stevenson told motorsport.com.
The fine is suspended for 12 months and Force India are willing to make changes, as best as they can around the sponsorship agreements they already have in place.
‘One thing to note is that needs to be a sign-off process with the FIA. Our feeling was that we passed scrutineering, nobody had spoken to us before Sunday, and everybody was happy.’
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