New Force India VJM11 'similar' to 2017 car

'Evolution not revolution' appears to be a catchcry as the F1 teams begin to reveal their 2018 cars. Haas is first out of the gates this year with images of its new single seater, as boss Gunther Steiner said the biggest challenge was incorporating the mandatory Halo feature.

"The regulations are pretty stable so the VF-18 is an evolution from last year," he admitted. "You see elements we had from last year on the car this year." Force India is making similar noises, with technical boss Andy Green agreeing that the complexity of adding Halo to the package means teams need a stable base for the winter tests.

"The Halo means you need to make quite big changes," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "So we will try to be in a similar condition that we had with our old car for the start of the testing," Green added. "The (2018) car is a bit more elegant but visually very similar to last year. We want to go to Barcelona with a car that we know works. It should be a good foundation that we can then start to develop with quite big steps."

Without the luxury of evolution, however, is Toro Rosso, the small Red Bull-owned team that has suddenly become the Honda works team. A new McLaren documentary, Grand Prix Driver, depicts how when the 2017 Honda was 'fired up' for the first time in the factory, it was far from a straightforward process.

So when asked if the Toro Rosso factory caught fire when the 2018 power unit barked into life for the first time, the team answered: "Our factory is perfectly fine -- thanks for the concern." (GMM)