F1: Di Resta Excited By VJM05 Car

Formula 1

F1: Di Resta Excited By VJM05 Car

Paul Di Resta had more input into the VJM05 car than its predecessor...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 03, 2012 Silverstone (GBR)

Paul Di Resta speaks with reporters on Friday at the Force India car launch. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Paul Di Resta gave the new Force India VJM05 its first laps at Silverstone on Friday.

Di Resta says he’s happy with the way the new car has turned out, having had more input into it than he had with its predecessor.

“It’s looking quite good; the seat fit went very smoothly, very comfortably,” said Di Resta. “The issues I had last year were obviously considered in the design, and I think as in any second year as part of a team, that’s the sort of thing that becomes a bit easier. Things start to develop around your input. I wouldn’t say the cockpit was tight last year, but I just couldn’t get low enough in the car, where I wanted to be.

“The target is just to go forward, really, from where we left off at the end of last year. We’ve got to start a bit stronger than we did last year – that will be a key. There’s a bit of a different philosophy again; we’ve developed something that we’ve tried last year, but didn’t go quite as well we hoped. We strongly believe now that it’s the way forward. I’m not going to say what is it, but you’ll see it as soon as the car hits the track!”

Di Resta says he feels stronger than this time last year.

“I’ve been training as hard as I ever have, really putting a big push on for the last few weeks," he said. "As I said, I’m getting myself into that routine and just pushing the body to another level. For some reason my life is just a lot more stable – it just lets you concentrate on the bits you need to as and when they come in.

“The other benefit is I have a year under my belt. Whether it’s making decisions on travel arrangements or just analyzing your time, you can really see what you didn’t like last year and what affected you, and just put it right.”

He says he’s looking forward to working with new race day teammate Nico Hulkenberg: “Obviously, Nico was already part of the team last year (as Friday driver). I’ve known him a lot of years, and I’m sure we will work together. At the same time you do have that bit of competitive nature, and you bounce off each other and push the team to that little bit of an extra step. But we have to respect each other, because we’re representing Sahara Force India.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.