Force India will not lose its newly-appointed technical director to bitter rivals Lotus until after the start of next season.<\/p>\n
It was announced last week that Mark Smith, who only replaced the Sauber-bound James Key in February, will join Lotus along with two of his colleagues “at the end of his Force India notice period”.<\/p>\n
But Silverstone based Force India’s boss and co-owner Vijay Mallya on Tuesday said the technical team “is still very much intact”.<\/p>\n
“Mark will stay with us until April 2011 and we will, in due course, announce a structure that will take us to the next level of performance,” said the Indian billionaire.<\/p>\n
“I’m very comfortable with where we are as a team and where we are going.”<\/p>\n
Mallya also played down the impact of Force India’s legal action against Lotus, Mike Gascoyne and the Italian wind tunnel Aerolab.<\/p>\n
“The structure and any off track events are for me to worry about, so the team can get on with doing what they do best at the track,” he said.<\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, Mallya announced that Vitantonio Liuzzi will switch to a different VJM03 chassis at this weekend’s Canadian grand prix.<\/p>\n
“Tonio will also revert back to the chassis used for the first four races as we continue to look into why he’s got the lack of grip,” he said.<\/p>\n
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