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.
 
It seems that if you're the test driver for Force India you'll get the race seat the next season. Liuzzi was their test driver in 2008 then got the race seat in 2009 once Fisichella went to Ferrari and kept it in 2010, at which point Paul di Resta became their test driver then getting the race seat in 2011. The pattern continued with Hulkenberg being the test driver for 2011 and now a confirmed race driver for 2012. Jules Bianchi is now the Force India test driver for 2012, so will the pattern continue and he gets the race seat for 2013?

Despite driving for a Mercedes powered team, he's still listed as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy. Ferrari must be looking for a long term replacement for Massa in case he doesn't start improving soon. Before Bianchi was confirmed as the Force India test driver there were rumours that he might be replacing Kobayashi at Sauber, it wouldn't suprise me if Ferrari really had been trying to get him in the seat to partner him with their other young driver to compare them both. Outside of the Ferrari powered teams Force India is probably the most realistic and best place to impress in a race seat, so perhaps Bianchi will be racing for Force India in 2013 (or even a race or two in 2012) with a view to make it to Ferrari in the future.

Or he just joins Sauber if Perez replaces Massa in 2013.
 
Can understand why Bianchi has gone to test for Force India when he's a Ferrari product. Wouldn't it make sense from a Ferrari point of view to having him as a test/reserve driver at Sauber? Surely if they've got any sights on him replacing Massa then that would make much more sense.
 
Can understand why Bianchi has gone to test for Force India when he's a Ferrari product. Wouldn't it make sense from a Ferrari point of view to having him as a test/reserve driver at Sauber? Surely if they've got any sights on him replacing Massa then that would make much more sense.

Esteban Guitterez was already signed up for Sauber, and I'm sure Ferrari have something in the contract with Bianchi going to Force India.

Sauber may have Ferrari connections, but it doesn't necessarily mean Bianchi is better off going to Sauber.

Plus, Force India give their reserve drivers time in the car, hope that helps :)
 
Esteban Guitterez was already signed up for Sauber, and I'm sure Ferrari have something in the contract with Bianchi going to Force India.

Sauber may have Ferrari connections, but it doesn't necessarily mean Bianchi is better off going to Sauber.

Plus, Force India give their reserve drivers time in the car, hope that helps :)

To be honest after a low par season in GP2 last year and surprised Bianchi didn't try and repair his rep by having another go there. I should imagine there is def some Ferrari money behind this move as with Kubica seemingly out the picture now and with Button having signed a new contract Sergio Perez is their only Massa replacement on stand-by and he's only had one semi decent year. I'm pretty sure if Perez has a good season we'll see Massa out and Perez in but if he doesn't they'll prob hang on to Massa for a season and hope that Bianchi is ready for 2014 - hence getting him involved with Force India. Having said that I think Bianchi driving for Force India in 2013 depends on if Schumie retires and Merc take one on Hulkenberg or Di Resta as can't see Force India wanting to drop either of those 2 where as in the past they've always had one driver you thought was on his way out anyways.

As for the Sauber situation - They have massive backing from various Mexican companies so if Perez does leave it'll be Guitterez who comes in to keep them happy - provided he doesn't completely bomb in GP2 this year. I don't mind that sort of arrangment as Guitterez has looked fairly quick in lower formula and having his as 3rd driver for a couple of years whilst he races in GP2 seems about right to me. I'm hoping Merc are going to have a similar thing for Sam Bird - who by the way I half expected to be in a Force India seat next year until I heard about Bianchi.
 
I'm sure Ferrari have more options than "just" Sergio Perez.

Bianchi went under the radar after 2009, not sure if he's worthy of an F1 spot, another season in GP2 wouldn't have done any harm.

A replacement for Massa? Hm...why would he be in a reserve role then for this season when Massa's contracts up this following season?
 
I'm sure Ferrari have more options than "just" Sergio Perez.

Bianchi went under the radar after 2009, not sure if he's worthy of an F1 spot, another season in GP2 wouldn't have done any harm.

A replacement for Massa? Hm...why would he be in a reserve role then for this season when Massa's contracts up this following season?

Ferrari have a tendency to groom their replacements - Kubica was fave for the spot he even had a pre-contract signed to say he'd get the seat for 2012 but of course that went wrong. Bianchi was their acadamy star hence all the young drivers test but as you and I said he kind of fell on his ass a little - if he'd won GP2 in a blaze of glory I think we'd have seen him in a race seat. With both those 2 falling down they made noises about Button coming in but Mclaren snapped him up - which leaves us with Sergio Perez who was initially 3rd in line to the throne and placed at Sauber(a bit like Massa) to see how he went but his competition has destroyed itself and personally I think he only has to conjur up a decent year this season and they'll have him in the mighty red car.

My point about Bianchi is that he didn't do well enough to get a race seat this year so they've put him in the queue for Force India next year - if Perez bombs this year then they'll extend Massa's contract for another year(again) and see how Bianchi does in view of 2014 - even if they do take Perez on they'll still have Bianchi getting experience in case he bombs at Ferrari.

Ferrari like the other top teams plan their drivers in adavance. Massa was groomed to replace Barrichello - Kimi was always in line to replace Schumi. Alonso signed for Ferrari like 2 years before he drove for them! They're not going to plump for someone they've not trialed and tested for a while I'm afraid - so when I said 'just' Sergio Perez I meant that out of all the drivers they've been grooming along he appears to be the last left standing.
 
TMP so far for Force India:

TBY.jpg
 
This bodes ill for FI.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kingfisher-airlines-flies-amid-turbulence/1/176532.html
Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) continues to hurtle into turbulence as protests by a section of pilots and the freezing of the company's bank accounts due to a default in service tax payments is threatening to throw the carrier's schedule out of gear.
Some pilots had recently refused to operate flights in protest against non-payment of salaries for the last three months despite several promises made by the management.
Though the airline has money to meet its expenses and pay salary, it is unable to do so because over 40 of its bank accounts have been frozen by the tax authorities due to non-payment of tax deducted at source (TDS) and service tax dues.
Last Friday, the Services Tax authorities froze several of Kingfisher's accounts to add to its problems.
The worry of the pilots is genuine as their financial condition has deteriorated severely. Some of them fear that they may not get their dues at all, in case, of lingering financial woes as overall operating expenses of the airline are huge and most of the cash-in-hand is being spent on jet fuel to keep the planes flying.
 
I don't think it will affect Force India that much. Kingfisher have had their accounts frozen before and I'm assuming that Force India secured the $100m deal with Sahara so that Kingfisher's downfall would not lead to Force India's downfall as well.
 
Everyday seems to bring a new financial headache for Vijay, customers are abandoning the airline, and it's losing business to its rivals, hasn't made a profit for couple of years
With airlines once they nosedive it's almost always terminal

Ultimately without Kingfisher I don't see Vijay remaining in control of Force India, not sure if his financial partners will love remaining in F1 once he gets squeezed out

Hope I am wrong about this
 
With airlines once they nosedive it's almost always terminal

A whole host of puns there I hope were intended!

Yeah its not looking for Vijay. I get the feeling this is the last season the team will be known as Force India. I think he only owns 42% of the team now so I think (hope) it'll be an easier task selling that share than the whole team. I hope we don't get a situation where someone tries to rename them a classic team name(I know there is someone floating around trying to bring the Brabham name back). Who knows maybe Eddie Jordan will swoop back in and take his team back.

I think the performance of the team will def attract the money though. A driver squad of Hulkenberg, Di Resta and Bianchi as well as a technical link to Mercedes has got to be attractive to someone wanting a piece of F1.
 
Ok so if you look at yesterdays results it pretty much went in engine order with the Merc powered cars first, followed by the Renault powered, followed by the Ferrari powered and the Cosworth cars bringing up the rear(I know they were a couple out of place) but the one team that failed to fill this mould was Force India. Why?

In the last few season we've seen that the Force India cars have been strong where straight line speed has been important. Spa and Monza etc so you'd have expected them to follow suit this weekend yet they were never on the pace. So whats gone wrong? On the face of it they have a stronger driver pairing than last year - in fact people were rating Hulkenberg and Di Resta as one of thy strongest driver pairings in the field and on the back of a 6th place constructors finish and continual imporvement at the end of last season you'd really have expected them to be on it this weekend but instead they kind of dissapeared.

I know its early to say but It appears that both Sauber and Williams have jumped past them and they are now the 8th team in F1 especially as they haven't produced a result on a track you'd have expected them to be up there.

Any thoughts?
 
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