Force India "has confirmed that it will skip the Jerez test completely, and focus instead on the second test of the season in Barcelona," according to Adam Cooper of MOTORSPORT.
The team "revealed some time ago that the new VJM08 would not be ready for Jerez, but it had been expected that the old VJM07 would be used at Jerez." However, the car "would have used a 2014 power unit and it was decided that there would be little to gain by doing the test." Force India "does of course use a Mercedes gearbox as well as the power unit, so a significant chunk of the new car will be tested by the works team in Jerez" (MOTORSPORT, 1/28). The BBC's Andrew Benson reported a team spokesperson said the decision "was taken on 'efficiency grounds' because of the 'limited learning opportunities.'" He "denied financial issues prompted the move and refused to comment on reports the team are late paying suppliers." Force India was one of three smaller teams which "complained towards the end of last season that Formula 1's revenue split made it hard for them to survive financially." Force India, Lotus and Sauber said that "the prize money was unfairly and disproportionately weighted towards the more successful teams." However, there "has been no progress towards giving the small teams more income" and, acoording to sources, F1's main shareholder CVC has told them "it is not prepared to make any more funds available" (BBC, 1/28).
PICTURE PERFECT: Lotus has released pictures of its new Mercedes-powered E23 hybrid car. While the team will retain last year's driver lineup of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, it believes the switch from Renault to Mercedes power, and the implementation of lessons learned from last year's struggles, will thrust the team back to the sharp end of the F1 grid (F1).