Why F1 2018's final car is a little different

Force India's latest 'Pink Panther' is an evolution of last year's package. For the last two years, Force India has done a great job to finish fourth in the constructors' championship but, if anything, with teams such as McLaren, Renault and Williams likely to improve, it could be even tougher for Force India to maintain that level of success in 2018.

This is a team that has shown it has a good understanding of its car and how it works the tyres, which - combined with a strong driver line-up and sensible strategies - has allowed it to get a lot of good results. If that knowledge of the car has carried over into this year, I'm sure it will get the best out of the package.

It's also taken an interesting approach to testing, saying the focus will be on ensuring the aerodynamics are working as intended and ensuring the impact of the halo is understood first. This makes sense while the track surface settles down, because doing mechanical set-up or vehicle dynamics work could prove misleading before the track evolves.

Force India has a little bit of a strange package of componentry on the front wing and isn't following the trend many others have taken at this point in time

Force India is a team that uses its head, and this is another example of that - avoiding getting too excited and focusing on what it needs to do.

Looking in detail, the philosophy of the front wing assembly is slightly different to that of other teams. The part in front of the tyre is very much what you might call a tyre ramp. All the flaps continue through there, but as it comes towards the centre of the car it changes height fairly abruptly.

Other teams make this transition from one section to another more progressively, so this is something different. You could call this a tyre pod rather than an airflow realignment device.

The front flap package is not necessarily as big as that of other teams. I don't think this one takes up as big an area as some, and therefore doesn't have as big a section wing.

If you look at the main plane, it's quite a long chord on the outboard end, so for me it's a little bit of a strange package of componentry on the front wing and isn't following the trend many others have taken at this point in time.

It's the same with the nose and the distinctive nostrils, a different philosophy. Only time on the stopwatch will tell if it's right but I'd have liked to see a shorter-chord main plane because that makes it easier to control the pitch sensitivity. The front wing almost looks like a 90% scale version of the others, and if that were the case it would be producing less downforce.

The bargeboard area is quite sophisticated and it's got all the vortex-generation devices, verticals and horizontal fins you expect. The floor area in front of the main floor looks good as well, but it's about how all of this works together rather than the individual bits, because the airflow coming off one part affects the others dramatically.

Setting up the airflow that comes through under the front of the chassis is all about trying to get the highest-velocity airflow possible introduced to the sidepod leading edge.

The sidepods are very much focused on the undercut developing into the Coke bottle area. That area is allowing the back of the car to influence the front of the car and scavenge the airflow out from under the chassis. Everything looks to be there.

The diffuser is as wide as you can get it. It has the turning vanes on the outboard end, to try to get it to work with the low pressure area behind the rear tyres. This aspect is critical and works in conjunction with the rear brake ducts, which cool the brakes but also have a multitude of turning vanes. The combination of parts is all there - all they have to do is work.

On the halo, as the sides come round towards the back, there's a bit of a step where others have tried to sweep it down into the headrest. The integration of the two trailing edge parts of the halo is the one part that doesn't look like it's designed for these cars. The car is a certain shape, the halo's a certain shape, and they don't meet up well. The front blends in nicely, but the back part is not very sophisticated.

All the detail is there on this car. The only question is whether it all works together. The one area I would look at and say Force India could improve, possibly, is the front wing assembly in terms of the concept.

But the car has been good on tyre durability in the past and the front wing is part of that, so that could equally be to Force India's advantage.