Force India to be renamed by Australian GP

After surprising the Formula One world with their striking pink livery in 2017, this season looks set to bring another change at Force India, with chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer revealing a new team name is likely to be revealed before the Australian Grand Prix.

The team are operating under the Force India name at the first pre-season test in Barcelona, but all is set to change.

Force India came into F1 in 2008, bankrolled by Vijay Mallya, the Indian businessman who lists beer brand Kingfisher among his assets.

The 'Force' element of the team name is reportedly expected to remain, but the team are yet to finalise the new moniker.

"This is an interim shirt, and we'll get the real ones for the first race - a little bit like the car," Szafnauer told reporters in Barcelona when quizzed on a shirt bearing the old name.

"We haven't quite decided [the name] yet, and it also needs to go through the formal approval process, and we haven't done that yet.

"We'll see. There's a probability that it will change by the first race."

Szafnauer has previously explained that the change has been motivated by the team losing its links to India over time.

"Force India was born out of Vijay owning the team," he told Motorsport.com in June last year.

"Since then we've lost the grand prix there [in India], the Indian sponsors no longer were interested in sponsoring us.

"Now we have no Indian sponsors whatsoever, apart from Vijay's Kingfisher. So it kind of makes sense to change it from India in order to attract sponsors more globally, and not restrict ourselves to being Force India."

The 2017 season saw Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez deliver an impressive fourth-place finish in the constructors' championship. In fact, both drivers amassed more points individually than fifth-placed Williams managed.