Force India

Force India

FIA Entry: Force India F1 Team
Car 14: Adrian Sutil
Car 15: Paul di Resta
Engine: MercedesV8
Team Principal: Vijay Mallya
Technical Director: Andrew Green
Race Engineer Car 14: Brad Joyce
Race Engineer Car 15:Gianpiero Lambiano

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2008
Races Entered 55
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 1
Fastest Laps 1
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Team History

In 1991 Eddie Jordan made the leap from the lower formulae to F1 with the Jordan Grand Prix Team. Jordan Grand Prix raced with varying degrees of success until 2005, taking part in 250 Grand Prix, winning 4.

In 2006 Jordan was sold to Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider and was rebadged as Midland F1 – entered as the first Russian Grand Prix team. Midland had little success and by the end of 2006 the team was sold to Dutch car sports car makers Spyker and the entry changed to Spyker MF1. Spyker were as unsuccessful as Midland and at the end of 2007 the team was sold again, this time to Vijay Mallya, and Force India was born

Force India

For the 2008 season Force India used an updated version of the Spyker car, designated the VJM01, married to Ferrari engines. Adrian Sutil and Ginacarlo Fisichella were the drivers with Vitantonio Luizzi as the tester. The season wasn’t massively successful, Sutil missed out on potentially scoring points at Monaco when Kimi Raikkonen crashed into him, otherwise the highest placing they managed was 10th for Fisichella in Spain.

Mercedes Power

For 2009 Force India moved from Ferrari power to Mercedes engines. With the same drivers as 2008 the early part of the season showed that Force India VJM02 had made steps forward in performance. Sutil ran 6th in China, before aquaplaning off the circuit, and was as high as 2nd in Germany before another coming together with Raikkonen as he exited the pits. The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa proved to be the high point of Force India’s season. Fisichella, to the amazement of many on the grid, put his car on pole and brought the car home 2nd only to leave the team to substitute for Felipe Massa at Ferrari for the remainder of the season. Sutil followed up Fisichella’s points scoring exploits with a 4th in Italy now partnered by test driver Luizzi.

For 2010 Mercedes engines were retained, as was the driver line up the team ended 2009 with. The VJM03 was another step forward for the 2009 model and Force India scored points regularly in the mid-field. Sutil managed the teams highest race finish with a 5th in Malaysia and the team ended the season 7th in the Constructors Championship

2011

Test driver Paul di Resta replaces Luizzi for 2011 in the VJM04 chassis. With continuing support from Mercedes High Performance Engines and McLaren Applied Technologies Force India are looking to head the mid-field in 2011.

 

[cider_and_toast]

It's been the kiss of death for how many teams now??

 

[teabagyokel]

Toyota to start with.

 

[cider_and_toast]

McLaren, Ferrari and Caterham have all used it in the last 12 months and have hardly produced cars that have been aerodynamically sound.

 

[siffert_fan]

why didn't they just use a couple of box fans until the Toyota tunnel was available? The results probably wouldn't have been much different.

 

[teabagyokel]

Mercedes and Red Bull hauled their cars not to Cologne, but to Blackpool. They just left them on the promenade and got all the data they required.

 

[FB]

Cruel but fair.

 

[RasputinLives]

Force India's 2015 car is still not ready so they are sending their 2014 car to the test instead.

http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117674

Using the 2014 car under 2015 regulations? I hope no one from the strategy group objects to that and doesn't let them take part.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives cider_and_toast TomysF1

Unable to get your own team ready for the season because of some other team's financial issues shows the incompetence of Force India's management and planning... they were intending to compete for 2015 were they not regardless if the other two teams were going to be on the grid or not?

Is it not like they were banks withholding money for them to spend ?

I thought Sahara supposedly have plenty of money spent

 

[RasputinLives]

http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117869

Reading between the lines Force India are struggling. The fact that they are not telling the media its absolutely certain they'll be in Melbourne suggests to me that they are starting to plan to not be otherwise they'd never even mention it.

 

[Bill Boddy]

The article says that Sauber may not be in Melbourne either due to financial difficulties and with Lotus a maybe. So at what time does Mr. Ecclestone have to call on the other teams for more cars.

Maybe they should all go to the Whithall Theatre, oh, whoops, that closed down as well.

http://londonist.com/2014/10/whatever-happened-to-the-whitehall-farce.php

 

[RasputinLives]

So would anyone laugh if Sauber, Enstone and Force India failed to make the grid in Aus but Manor did?

I hope they all make it and the fact that Sauber and Enstone are still categorically saying they will be gives me hope but when a team is even saying in the media they might not be there it suggests things are in a bad way!

 

[Jen]

Should Force India's title be changed to plain 'India'?

 

[siffert_fan]

How about Farce India?

 

[Il_leone]

I read it in this month's F1 magazine because of the problems suffered by Caterham and Marussia .. this is affecting Force India 's ability to attract sponsors because it is downgrading their credit rating meaning they can't get the finances they need for the upcoming season.

So where has VJ and Sahara's billions disappeared too then ?

 

[Bill Boddy]

Up the Kyber.

 

[RasputinLives]

Force India still seem a bit grumpy about Manor's return (and the way they were painted in the media about it)

http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117964

Between this, questioning their return plan and blaming them for their own financial issues its been an all out slanging match really. Maybe they were hoping it would fall through so the investment came their way!

 

[Il_leone]

I feel sorry for Hulkenberg every team he's driven for there always seems to be the question mark about the team's finance position and is going to put his own career in jeapardy

 

[P1]

Looks like this team will have a rebirth as Aston Martin.

 

[RasputinLives]

Does anyone else feel slightly icky when a famous car name is slapped on a team for mere financial and media interest? I've spent 5 years not saying the L word, don't tell me I have to now not say the AM word too.

 

[Il_leone]

If the team is successful then its great but if they fail its an embarrassment like Jaguar