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.

 

[Slyboogy]

Yeah, I noticed that too.

Plus I thought they would be pretty good this season, especially since both drivers said it was the best cars they've driven (to be fair they've only driven one F1 car each properly before this one).

Just seems like an average car, the first two races it looked as if the Toro Rosso car was better than the Force India's aswell.

 

[Bill Boddy]

....the first two races it looked as if the Toro Rosso car was better than the Force India's aswell.

Despite having poor drivers.

 

[Galahad]

Force India have been a bit disappointing, but really over the past few years they've been punching above their weight and where they are now is probably where we should expect them to be.

 

[KekeTheKing]

This might have been covered somewhere yesterday, but it was suggested by Bob Varsha on SPEED that Force India was being punished yesterday by FOM/Bahraini director for leaving the track early on Friday. It certainly is strange that they were not shown at all during the broadcast.

 

[FB]

Hell hath no fury like a billionaire scorned?

 

[KekeTheKing]

So now FI is getting it from the upper crust and the oppressed. Well played Mr. Fernley.

 

[RasputinLives]

Well on the back of Rossi doing Friday P1 for Caterham we now have Conor Daly linking up with Force India

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13357.html

The Yankies are a coming! with 2 Grand Prixs there as of next year I'm guessing cashing in on the home driver will bring teams like Force India a lot of attention. Daly does look handy in GP3 though

 

[teabagyokel]

How odd that both the Williams 1982 drivers have 'foreign' children.

 

[RasputinLives]

It seems Connor Daly's first run in an F1 car involved a race with a rabbit!

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/...gpupdate&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=news

It seems very early in his career for Force India to start running him in test so I suspect this boy has a bit of sponsorship behind him and it won't be long before we see him in F1. With Force India's current financial situation maybe with them very soon. From what I've heard though the boy does show promise.

 

[FB]

If he's as good as Derek he has a long and fruitful career in F1 ahead of him...

 

[Viscount]

I'm hoping for a strong showing by Force India at Silverstone next week. They looked good in pre-season and despite it being their best team result so far this season in Valencia finishing 6 & 7 they actually underperformed. Both drivers made it through to Q3 on merit but by their own admission didn't get their final runs right & lined up 8 & 10 on the grid. Di Resta spent the race on what turned out to be the wrong strategy managing his tyres on a 1 stop, but Hulkenberg was quick on his 2 stop despite losing KERS on lap 7 for the rest of the race so he could definitely have finished higher than 6.

They've got upgrades for Silverstone so hopefully they'll have a good weekend at the first of their 2 home races.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Saw this the other day on Joe Saward's blog. Thing's look pretty damn bad for Vijay and Kingfisher.

The airline, which was started in 2005, has never made a profit and its strategy of borrowing to create growth has clearly failed, leaving the business with total liabilities of around $2 billion. The airline owes lessors, suppliers, lenders, airports, employees and the Indian government. Much of the debt is guaranteed by other companies in Mallya’s UB Group. Kingfisher has already shut down its low-cost operations, ended all international flights and contracted its operations considerably from 400 flights a day.

According to the Firstpost website, lending banks have not shut Kingfsiher down because they are looking for a bigger fish and are “humouring Mallya” because he has pledged shares in his various liquor businesses, which generate plenty of cash, and they are aiming to grab that when the airline finally fails. There have been suggestions in F1 circles for some time that Sahara’s involvement in Mallya’s empire is for this reason alone.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/meanwhile-in-india-2/

 

[Brogan]

Bad news for Force India.... http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/sahara-refund-court-idINL4E8JV24L20120831

 

[canis]

So with one major stakeholder having a $3bil + bill, the other having his major company investigated for non-payment of tax, Force India are going to be struggling to keep above water at this rate.....

 

[RasputinLives]

I see and end of season buy-out coming up which probably won't do the team any good at all. I also see both drivers out the door for drivers with more funding. I just hope the buy out isn't by someone who thinks the route to success in F1 is to trade on the back of a former teams name. I do think I could cope with a fake Brabham or what not driving around.

Here's hoping Paul Stoddart and European Minardi buy in.

 

[siffert_fan]

A real shame. By the end of last season, I had hoped that FI would become the new Minardi. That now appears extremely unlikely. Mores the pity.

 

[Viscount]

After topping the timesheets at the 3 car (Ferrari, Mercedes and Force India) Young Drivers Test at Magny-Cours yesterday in the Ferrari, Jules Bianchi topped them again today this time in the Force India. I think he'll be in a race seat next season with Force India continuing the trend set by di Resta and Hulkenberg before him, of test driver to race driver.

 

[RasputinLives]

Bianchi has big Ferrari backing so I imagine he will. He seems to have got his rep back on track after an awful GP2 season in 2011!

However I have a funny feeling Merc are going to offer a big price cut on those engines in exchange for giving Sam Bird a race seat. As the two of them are neck and neck in the 3.5 series and both done plenty if F1 testing it'll be a tough call.

 

[Viscount]

Never even thought about Sam Bird, I think you're right he could be a good candidate for a Force India seat. Perhaps we'll have di Resta to Mercedes, Bird to Force India, Perez to Ferrari and Bianchi to Sauber. Or they all just stay where they are.

 

[RasputinLives]

Throw in the fact that Gutierrez is favourite to move up from test driver to race seat at Sauber should Perez move on to help Sauber keep their Mexican sponsorship and it all gets very confusing - having said that it looks like they want rid of Kobi so they could run Bianchi and Gutierrez - which in a complete round about would make Kobi a very good option to bring in to Force India alongside Bird if both Hulkenberg and Di Resta clear off. Ok Viscount I think I'm just talking myself in circles now.

I agree with you though I think Bianchi is a good candidate for the Force India seat that I think will be free for next year. Him or Bird I reckon.