Will Force India's ugly duckling sink or swim?

As Williams has learned over the last few seasons, it's a lot easier to slip backwards in the constructors' championship than it is to move forwards.

Force India had a great 2016 and the paycheque for finishing fourth in the championship will be a big bonus and help with the cost of developments that '17 will require.

With a change in regulations of this magnitude, every team will have had to at least double its development budget. If, for some strange reason, all that budget isn't used then all the better, but you need to ensure it's available if required.

Vijay Mallya mentioned gunning for the top three, but realistically holding onto fourth is the big task for this year. Points-wise, Force India hasn't joined the big three just yet to make it back into the old big four, and closing that gap will not be easy. But remember, a lot of points were lost last year - look how many times Nico Hulkenberg was wiped out of some fairly high positions in races like Singapore.

The big three have budgets way out of reach for Force India, so that's why it is right to describe it as a team punching above its weight. Long may that continue for a team that I know very well from my time there when it was Jordan.

As for the car, on the outer surface it has a couple of interesting solutions and a couple of less-than-aesthetically pleasing components.

NOSE/FRONT WING

The nose retains the 2016 snorkel-style design, with its two eyelets. It uses the outer parts of this to mount the front wing, allowing airflow in between the wing mountings and the central crash section of the nose. Most teams do the same, but Force India's is just a little bit exaggerated.

The airflow that goes through here was used to feed an s-duct last year. I didn't spot that on this year's car, but I'm sure we'll see it.

The front wing is again a multi-element device. I'm pretty sure it is a derivative of what they ended up with last season adapted to the 2017 regulations, but this area is a bolt-on goodie and it is where a substantial amount of that development budget I spoke of earlier will end up being spent.

The nose-to-chassis intersection is a bit dramatic, and the flat top on the chassis is about as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as a shoe box but in the end if whatever the high-mounted pushrod inner end is driving works in their favour all will be forgiven.

Inner suspensions systems that might just control the aerodynamic platform are still up for interpretation by the FIA, so allowing yourself with room for manoeuvre in this area might just be a wise thing.

SIDEPODS

In front of the sidepod leading edge is what is called the barge boards, this vertically mounted turning vane is a very powerful component and helps scavenge the airflow out from underneath the front of the chassis.

In doing this it helps the front wing and underfloor performance. In the long and distant past when I was a boy they used to be worth about 10% of the overall car's downforce so if they are still as powerful as that it will also be an area of consistent development.

The second of the vertical turning vanes on the outer leading edge corner of the sidepods is there to control the turbulent airflow coming off the low-pressure area behind the front tyre. With the wider front tyres this component will be very important to the performance of the sidepod undercut and general underfloor performance.

ENGINE COVER

The headrest area and engine air intake are like the Renault. At Jordan, we did this style of intake in 1997 to help separate the airflow coming off the driver's helmet and the airflow going into the air box intake. As can be seen, the undercut area underneath the intake is sculptured to allow the airflow through this section with the minimum blockage.

The bulk of the engine cover itself sweeps down to the rear of the car nicely, allowing the maximum airflow to get through to the underside of the rear wing.

However, as for the rather large and rectangular air box fin, the others we have seen so far have at least some shape to them. But this one is what it is and for sure wasn't designed with aesthetics in mind. If it needs a handle, we could start calling it a billboard because, basically, that's what it looks like!

It has been used in the past so obviously, it has a function, but the regulations were changed to outlaw it and perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to go down that route again and very soon. After all, most teams carry a jigsaw on their test trucks...

REAR WING

This is now mounted lower and is wider than in 2016. The treatment of the rear wing endplates is like Sauber and Renault in that the trailing edge angles rearward as they go upwards.

This lower area will allow the low-pressure area behind the rear tyre to influence the performance of the underfloor and diffuser.

DIFFUSER

Most teams will be keeping this area under wraps until the last possible moment. Not only that, but the black floor and black lower half to the paintwork makes it doubly difficult to see anything.

But Barcelona is just around the corner and there will be very few hiding places there, so that is the area I will concentrating on when I get there.

FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION

The front suspension is the conventional double wishbone, pushrod-driven concept. But as I said earlier it is not what is seen that will make the big difference, and whether or not whatever that system is will be allowed to be used by the FIA.

The rear is again the conventional double wishbone pullrod design that has been in use for quite a few seasons.

With the wider front and rear tyres, the suspension geometry will now be more important. This is an area that over the last few years has been put on the backburner because aerodynamics have been more important.

But with a grip increase from the tyres, looking after them will now be more important than ever.