Force India's Bob Fernley has said the delay to the team's 2015 contender is partly due to the failures of rivals Caterham and Marussia.

The Silverstone-based outfit has already said that the VJM80 is unlikely to run until the second of the forthcoming Barcelona tests, if then.

However, amidst media speculation that the delay is due to various parts of the car not being ready due to financial issues, deputy team principal Fernley says that part of the reason is the collapse of Caterham and Marussia.

"As you know we've recently started working with Toyota's wind tunnel at their facility in Cologne," he told the Press Association, referring to the deal to use Toyota’s facility announced on 4 December. "However, the Toyota people had agreements with Caterham, and quite rightly until they could resolve their issues we could not move in with our contract. We didn't get the go-ahead until early December, so we were behind schedule before we had even started.

"On top of that we've had a few issues with suppliers because they've obviously been hurt very badly by the Marussia and Caterham demises," he added. "They wanted payments up front which hurt us cash-flow wise.

"I don't blame the suppliers at all," he continued." I would do exactly the same if my financial position had been hurt very badly. But it hasn't helped us and has meant we've had a few slow downs in different areas."

Fernley, who last week blocked Manor's (Marussia) plan to return to the grid, albeit with a 20104 car, insists that Force India will contest the final pre-season test - which starts just four days after the previous one ends - believes the VJM08 will be ready.

"Is it perfect? No it isn't, but will we get through? Yes, we will. It is only cash flow at the end of the day. It's not that the budget isn't there, which is the same thing every year. Normally we can get through by working with the suppliers, but this year we couldn't do that, so it has slowed us down a little."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by PeterJ42, 17/02/2015 10:11

"Quite right that 20104 cars are banned. Who knows what the regulations will be then. Bernie will be quite an age."

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2. Posted by Hondawho?, 13/02/2015 11:47

"1. Posted by Tommy Tipper, 3 hours ago
Red Bull not in a "saturated market" - you clearly don't know anything about the soft drinks business.

Yes you are right I do not, however, when was the last time your heard anyone asking for a Vodka and Coke? its all "Red Bull this and Red bull that. Monster (Coke Co) are trying to run with it but its just not working IHMO.

At least we agree on a possible "Whim" :-)"

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3. Posted by Tommy Tipper, 13/02/2015 8:47

"@Hondawho

Red Bull not in a "saturated market" - you clearly don't know anything about the soft drinks business.
But your'e right - it go in a whim.
Coke was a massive long time sponsor of the Tour De France - Brit takes over as Head of Coke France - he decides it's not value for money - boosh - gone"

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4. Posted by Tommy Tipper, 13/02/2015 8:40

""It's only cash flow at the end of the day"

Which is only the most important thing to any business. With an attitude like that Force India will fold"

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5. Posted by Hondawho?, 12/02/2015 18:21

"The "Honda who's guide to F1 teams 2015 " :-)

£ Rating and possible future

Unbiased and IMHO only, a view of team, products cash rating and future.......... all light-heartedly written with information read in the media and written by others, no confirmation any of the information below is correct but see how much you agree or disagree with!

-----£ gone or going -£ no money one £ is bad, five £££££ very good

Red Bull are unique (not a word I use a lot) but they are. No other team has as much ready cash and does not rely purely on the F1 team to sell their products and are not involved in a saturated market place (Cars for example)

Williams could be classified as unique but its questionable as Team Enstone are similar..........
---------------------

Teams.

Red Bull: Product non alcoholic drinks, market pure excitement and adrenalin to many sports. Market place 6-7bn The world and therefore worldwide coverage/sponsorship of active sports £££££ Future Bright but solely reliant on one man and his ideas and whims perhaps?

Toro Rosso, see Red Bull
Future Rosé :-)
£££££

Ferrari
Cars. Market, a few who can afford them, .
Future soon to be spun off from Fiat then the fun will begin.
££££

McLaren
Now cars, same as Ferrari: Oh dear not part of large Motor group YET!
Future : Watch out for car sales figures
£££

Mercedes
Team Products Cars, trucks and vans, bigger then the two above. Also advertising board for main sponsor. Interesting people know the name Petronas but not what they do! They are only in the Top 20 richest companies in the World, thats all! Market, cars and sponsor HUGE
Future, well they are not going go broke are they?
£££££+

Williams
Racing team and Electronics plc company. So are they unique, possibly.
Team product Market advertising banner
Future bright, involved with many new transport technologies but does not build road cars (lucky them)
£££-£

Team Enstone,
Team Product, Cars and advertising banner and sponsored by and reliant on Group Lotus
Lotus cars very small market but flooding showrooms in the hope of selling them. I would buy one but they build them for midgets and the population is getting bigger. Mind you they are from Norfolk and the population there are the size of jockeys! Market small.
Future, team debatable.
££

Sauber, Team product,. Advertising banner for third parties, market varies. If sponsorship really works so should they!
Future, always seems to be coming and going one day good next day bad.
£-£

Force India,Team product: Advertising banner for owners products, market, adult alcoholic drinks worldwide so should do better cashwise unless its being squirrelled away which is allegedly the case.
Future. If they ban alcoholic drinks on cars its not looking good for VJM.
£

Marussia= Team product was Cars, I rest my case, but fingers crossed for a recovery, maybe another teams assistance..
Future hopeful
--£

Team Caterham
Team products. WAS Cars, and a bit of advertising, Airbus and GE (I'll buy your planes and plane engines if you sponsor my cars!) what a shame Fernadez got carried away with sailing boats, (What happened to Mike Gasgoine, did he sink as well?) LM Cars, MotoGP, QPR, airlines, the result was........... will disappear, a lot like airliners.
-----£

Noted that Caterham Cars Ltd has no connection with Caterham team. (What a wasted opportunity!)

"

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6. Posted by gturner38, 12/02/2015 0:08

"Am I missing something? Force India has a contract with Toyota to use their wind tunnel. Caterham also has a contract to use the Toyota wind tunnel. Force India is claiming they couldn't get their wind tunnel time until Caterham shut down. What would have happened if Caterham found a buyer and could continue? Does anyone believe for a second that Force India would put themselves in a position where they couldn't use a wind tunnel unless another team quit F1? Furthermore, what does wind tunnel testing that wouldn't have started until sometime in December have to do with getting a car to a test at the start of February? It seems reasonable to believe the teams that made it to the first test had at least one basic set of bodywork designed by that point. At the absolute worst, they could have gone straight from CFD to the track without a wind tunnel test just to do systems checks.

And as far as paying cash goes, I bet Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari all still have credit with the suppliers. "

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7. Posted by Hondawho?, 11/02/2015 16:06

"I suggest VJM sells his boat to cover the cash flow! or maybe it is sold to pay for the staff of his airline that he owed so much money to.

"Bad cash flow", the three words meaning "not enough capital to trade correctly or efficiently!""

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8. Posted by testa rossa, 11/02/2015 12:12

"yep F1 business is like most other businesses and households , you try to get the most out of your money and planning , but often it doesn't work out as you thought , look at MacHonda and Redbully .. money enough and still bad results in Jerez.
Like them or not i think Force I did a very good job last year."

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9. Posted by namb, 11/02/2015 11:01

"Maybe suppliers want money upfront from Force India because they have their own issues which are nothing to do with other teams! Maybe people in glass houses......blah blah"

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10. Posted by Editor, 11/02/2015 9:29

"@Hobgoblin

As we've just tweeted:

"Bob Fernley blames @Marussia_F1Team for lack of Frosties in @ForceIndiaF1 canteen, thus ruining breakfast & further delaying car launch""

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11. Posted by Hobgoblin, 11/02/2015 9:09

""...until they could resolve their issues we could not move in with our contract."
So what would they have done if Caterham had come through?

Sounds like p*** poor planning to me, or utter B-S.
Either way, I think I would be demanding upfront payments from Force India too. Even for a hamburger."

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12. Posted by petes, 11/02/2015 3:54

"I think ol' Bob has mastered the art of spin and double speak quite well.
Not to mention those blinkers he's wearing rather seem to suit him. Strange that."

Fernley cites Caterham and Manor failures for Force India delay

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