WaikeCU wrote:Come to think of FI, they have been surprisingly competitive throughout the years. What baffled me this season is that they didn't have FRIC on there car unlike other competitors they battled with. So I find it surprising that when FRIC got banned they really didn't move forward because of this. I think a lot has to do with the development race of other teams who are financially stronger than FI. Add to that material degradation at the end of the season could have led to a performance drop.
Force India did have FRIC in 2014. They used the data from 2013 to design the 2014 system and the team tested it in Bahrain and used it in two races; Shanghai & Barcelona. They felt their system needed refinement but even still they could have used it in Monaco. They did not use it in Monaco because they were not comfortable with the limits it was setting with respect to the tyres and they didn't want that restriction on them, they wanted to set the car up freely. They were updating their system and making refinements to it and then the FIA banned it.
Perez & Hulkenberg also raced two different designed cars. Yes they looked identical but they were not. One was the original chassis built in the winter(Perez) and the second was a lightweight chassis built specifically for Nico. Nico's chassis required a new homologation and crash test. Both chassis's came from the same mould but the difference was all in the laminate and number of plies used as well as materials used.