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.
 
Bianchi is backed by Aethra who ploughed some money into Force India last year because he was the test driver so I imagine they'd chuck some more in if he was given the race seat. Not to mention I'm sure Ferrari might chuck in a few pennies to give their young driver some experience when they have a seat free in 2014.

Sutil used to have backers in the Sun Kiss drinks company. Do they still support him?

Of course if they were going for sponsorship money then Mr Senna would be their man.
 
For continuity the team will need 1 experienced driver and it would be probably Di Resta despite the fact they are well aware he is looking for a top team drive but with Norbert quitting Mercedes I am not sure he has the same support now

However for Force India they get support from Mercedes with the engine and probably not having to pay Di Resta's wages
 
Force India told us they would have announced their driver line up by the time they had their xmas party but thats been and gone which makes you think there has been a sticking point somewhere. I wonder if the sticking point has been a work permitt in China and the U.S. Despite Mr Sutil making a big song and dance about being able to go everywhere I know from an experience a relative had that both these countries can be funny about who they let in to work and their 'blemish' was nowhere in the region of Sutils and was over five years old. It certainly didn't happen in the country itself!
 
Has it been confirmed that Di Resta in a definite for 2013

I only see the battle between

Sutil / Algarsuari with Bruno Senna being a long shot


it does seem Sutil has been talking himself up

I wonder if team finance is an issue and it depends who brings the most sponsored money.

The team deny VJ's troublesome Kingfisher Airline business does not affect Force India.

VJ was very adamant that just because the team is represented in India's national colours. It did not mean he has to pick an Indian driver back in 2008-2009 So if someone were to back Narain or Karun Chandhok substantially.. is there a chance then either could get the seat?

The team are partly owned by Sahara so VJ is not the only left with decisions these days
 
RasputinLives

Shame for Jaime it did look like he was a dead cert for comeback drive

The promotion of Bianchi would follow Force India trend but he is tied to Ferrari like Perez and I don't see any Ferrari connections as they were with Sauber gained from promoting him

I should add just off topic why the top 2 in GP2 last season wont be on the F1 grid? This is the first time since Pantano won the title in 2008.
 
With a spare Ferrari engine going at the end of the year maybe Force India are angling after that? Bianchi's personel sponsor have already put money into the team so maybe its that connection not the Ferrari one thats important.

As for too 2 in GP2, Razia still has a shot at Caterham and would prob get the drive if talent was what they were going on. Valsecchi has just never been fancied by any of the teams and the quality of last years GP2 field wasn't considered high.
 
Apparently Bianchi is a consideration because Force India are thinking of using Ferrari turbo in 2014 and getting Bianchi may help and one can assume they are planning this on the basis DI Resta is not going to be with the team so going to get less help from Mercedes
 
Bianchi is the best option I think anyways. As for Di Resta, I have my doubts he'll last for 2014 but about to do an article on that so will keep stum for now.
 
More strange goings on at Force India. Just last week they said Paul Di Resta was going to have to do all the test work and then this week they promptly announce that Di Resta won't be at the first test and they'll be running Bianchi and Rossieter.

Begining to lose hope that its going to be Bianchi in the second seat as I think they would have announced it already. I can't see what they would gain from assessing him at a test that they haven't seen in the Friday sessions he did.

Is Rossieter an outside chance? Tested for Honda for a couple of years, driven in Indy, was even named as one of USF1's drivers for 2010 before their collapse. Bit of an outside chance but seems to have his feet under the table there.

The spectre of Bruno Senna does seem to loom though.
 
Bruno Senna has driven for Mercedes in DTM before so I wonder if someone has been whispering about Bruno in VJ's ear

I do get the impression Force India have got some monetary issues they won't discuss because this is all unsettling that a few weeks away and they still have not got a 2nd driver

Now they are saying Di Resta is not doing the testing which is bizarre given he is a good benchmark for the other two drivers to go up against being the one with F1 experience :thinking::s
 
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