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]

Apparently on another forum, Di Resta put up a tweet welcoming Bruno Senna into the team but deleted it.

Not seen it on any other forum though

 

[siffert_fan]

The whole thing seems a bit of a shambles, making me suspect that they will be fighting it out with Marussia rather than Mercedes this season!

 

[Bill Boddy]

For "rather than" read "and"

No, no, honest, I'm only joking

 

[gethinceri]

It does seem shambolic, I'm not sure that you're not right siffert_fan and Bill Boddy.

 

[RasputinLives]

Apparently on another forum, Di Resta put up a tweet welcoming Bruno Senna into the team but deleted it.

Not seen it on any other forum though

Don't scare me Sly I'm mid conga regarding Bruno sodding off out of F1

 

[Il_leone]

I do think Force India have got some monetary issues that they are not disclosing . Clearly the second driver is going to be one with plenty of backing

This is shambolic..looks like Hulkenberg got out of a possible sinking ship in good time

 

[RasputinLives]

Rossieter set some competitve timea but also mowed down one of the mechanics! (the guy is ok). Not sure if thats a good audition or not. He only seems to be talking about sorting the simulator out though not going for the race seat but if he's not going for it why haven't they confirmed Bianchi? They have 3 drivers already surely they're not going to bring a 4th in for the race seat who won't get any track time untul the first session of the first GP.

Part of me wonders if this has anything to do with Adrian Sutil and whether he can get visas for certain countries.

 

[F1ang-o]

http://en.espnf1.com/forceindia/motorsport/story/100610.htmlIs
Is this the second driver?

Edit This page looks like it is no longer available?

 

[F1ang-o]

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/8490718/Karthikeyan-to-Force-India-

 

[FB]

What a shame they have to take on a pay driver, at least with very limited talent.

 

[RasputinLives]

Can I just say that I half joked it was going to be Karthkeyen a couple of weeks ago and they weren't telling anyone coz they were ashamed.

Lets just hope Planet F1 are nicking their articles from forums eh?

 

[Plutus]

He was up to a second or more slower than De La Rosa on occasions last season....... he just does not belong into F1 I'm afraid.

 

[Il_leone]

Karthekeyan won't drive for Force India ... I remember VJ explicitly saying just because the team is backed by Indians it does not mean he will field Indian drivers

This testing thing is a real mess because surely if Sutil is going to be driving the car he needs to be given testing time

I think Bianchi is going to get it if the option of getting Ferrari engines become available

VJ obviously thinks if DI Resta goes so may Mercedes engines as well ... I see them swapping engines with Sauber

 

[Plutus]

Karthekeyan won't drive for Force India ... I remember VJ explicitly saying just because the team is backed by Indians it does not mean he will field Indian drivers

Depending on the financial situation of the team, in the end he may have no other option than fielding Karthikeyan.
Luckily I think the team isn't doing that bad currently and I agree that they will probably complete a deal with Ferrari/ Bianchi.

 

[RasputinLives]

Di Resta doesn't bring in Merc engines. They had them already. They also share Merc technology and have been doing since the days of Mclaren being Mercs main team. I think if it was all about Merc then Sam Bird would be in the mix.

As for VJ saying he wouldn't run Karth. Anyone remember Ron saying he'd never run Mansell? Needs must when the bank manager drives!

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives

Okay Mclaren saw Force India as some junior team team to share resources etc including Di Resta who had tested for Mclaren and it would make sense to do this given their experiences with Hamilton and suits Mercedes fine

Sam Bird does not seem to feature highly to get onto the F1 grid

---------------

Yeah Ron would not run Mansell by giving Frank Williams Mansell's greatest hits of accidents in 1984. Even he could not fend off pressure from Marlboro wanting a world champion driver in Mansell

 

[RasputinLives]

Sam Bird was Merc test driver last year and was delib moved down from GP2 to 3.5 World Series so he could get more experience with the team on race weekends so he seemed to feature fairly high in their thinking so if they were pushing Di Resta you'd think they'd push him.

I have to be honest I think you are over stating Mercs involvment in both Force India and Paul Di Resta.

 

[Brogan]

The more I read about Force India, the worse it seems.
I would be surprised if they make it to the grid at Australia, never mind last the season.

Vijay Mallya, the co-owner of Sahara Force India F1 team, has come under intense pressure from 17 creditor banks in India, who have lost patience and announced they are calling loans on his failing Kingfisher Airlines business, which is $1.3 billion in debt.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/02/force-india-owner-under-pressure-from-banks-over-debts/

 

[Bill Boddy]

That article also has:

“It doesn’t affect the F1 team. There is a disconnect between what happens in Vijay’s business and what Vijay is doing on the F1 team. So it doesn’t matter what happens there. The shares in United Spirits have quadrupled in the last few months, so he did a wonderful deal there.
“But whether Kingfisher or United Spirits is doing well or not doesn’t affect the team. And it’s very difficult for us to get that message across, although we have been trying for several years.

Imo we just have to wait and see.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm sorry but as I spend most of my work day looking into company backgrounds I find it very hard to believe that they are seperated so much that one doesn't effect the other. Its a bit like saying if Turkeys went extinct Xmas would go on as normal.

I'm starting to thing FI have spent the winter touting for investment to make sure when VJ has to go it'll survive and they've delib left the second seat open for so long in case one of the businesses they are touting demand a driver. Prob why they took so long to confirm Di Resta too coz they think it makes them look more attractive to investors.

I don't see their demise but I do think they'll be on the 2014 entry list as Team Sahara