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Force India are the last Formula 1 team to launch its 2018 car, the VJM11, in the pit lane at Circuit de Catalunya on the morning of the start of pre-season testing.

Force India development driver Nikita Mazepin has been handed the honour of running the VJM11’s Formula 1 test debut on the opening day of pre-season testing at Circuit de Catalunya.

Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer says the dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix acted as a positive and a negative turning point to the team’s 2017 campaign having clinched back-to-back fourth places in the Formula 1 World Constructors’ championship.

Sergio Perez says it hasn’t been his best season in Formula 1 despite bagging back-to-back fourth places in the World Constructors’ championship for Force India and consecutive seventh places in the drivers’ standings due to the lack of silverware in 2017.

Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez both resisted debuting Pirelli’s new pink-banded HyperSoft tyre during the post-season Abu Dhabi tyre test but were content with the progress made on the 2018 compounds.

Esteban Ocon has praised the underdog story of Force India and feels his team could produce even bigger surprises with an equal budget compared to its manufacturer rivals in Formula 1.

Sergio Perez says “it’s hard to know how things would have gone” had he been given the green light to overtake Esteban Ocon but was content to still pick up useful points Force India at the United States Grand Prix.

Full transcript of Thursday's FIA press conference at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, featuring Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon, Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen.

Full race results (2) for the opening round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone, United Kingdom

Lotus announces seven young drivers who will make up the new Lotus F1 Junior Tean