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.

 

[RasputinLives]

So James Rossieter will get a run in the practice session at Silverstone in order to be able to give better feed back for the simulator.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1...first-practice-for-Force-India-at-Silverstone

Will be his second run of this season and I'm starting to wonder if he's a possibility for the race seat next year. He is 29 and has come the long route round but Rossieter has always been highly rated by those in the F1 paddock. In Formula Renault he was called the 'only driver to take the fight to Lewis Hamilton'. He was in with BAR and tested for them many times but he wasn't to Hondas taste. He was all set to drive fir USF1 before everyone realised it was a joke and now has been drafted into FI for his technical know how.

FI have a tendency to promote their test drivers and were all set to put Bianchi in for 2014 before he left. Will Rossieter have a Damon Hillesque late arrival into F1?

 

[gethinceri]

If his chequebook is MASSIVE, is linked to a bank account with MASSIVE amounts of money and he has links to a MASSIVE global brand then, yes.
No, then.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives

As far as the team have confirmed Di Resta has a contract with them for 2014 but they will not stand in his way if a more competitive outfit wants him

- obviously his contract is relatively peanuts to buy out

So Rossiter will only make it if Di Resta moves on

I would think Sutil would stay with the team to rebuild his reputation

 

[RasputinLives]

I don't think Sutil being there next year is certain. His form has been patchy.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives

Apparently getting Sutil back was something to do with Mercedes

For continuity I think they will keep him as they don;t really know if Di Resta is leaving or not

 

[KekeTheKing]

Sutil has been pretty good this year Ras. He's had some horrible luck and been taken off by other drivers several times.

As for Rossiter, he'll only be in the car if it's dry.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Force India only seem to get it right for one driver per race and sometimes not even then. It seems to me that Sutil hasn't done too badly with the hand he has been dealt.

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy
Apart from the last race where he drove like a dickhead to block Hamilton and cost his team at least 3 pts

 

[Bill Boddy]

I suspect that tasted sweet to him. I also think that it didn't make any difference to the result, only on which lap Alonso overtook him.

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy

I am referring to his team if they lose to Mclaren by say 2pts in the constructos thats $10m price money because of personal vendetta

I'd be angry with him for that and remember he has an indicator on his steering wheel to say a blue flag has been waved at him so his excuses are hogwash

 

[Bill Boddy]

A lot of money for not helping a friend out in court.

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy

I should make it clear it might cost Force India $10m in the constructors championship because of Sutil's idiocy

 

[teabagyokel]

Of course, had they put enough fuel in di Resta's car on Saturday...

 

[KekeTheKing]

At this rate, there isn't gonna be much of a fight between FI and McLaren.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Odd isn't it. At the beginning of the season most, if not all, posters assumed that Sauber had the funds to race for the whole of the season whilst some posters claimed that FI would not. Now the boot seems to be on the other foot.

 

[FB]

Given the horror stories floating round about FI it wasn't surprising many thought they wouldn't make it. Sauber have been working on a shoestring for quite a long time so I suppose none of us should be surprised even with Mexican Telecoms money coming in.

 

[Il_leone]

it was a bit odd with Force India because they waited right till the last minute to name Sutil as the 2nd driver but at the same time they've been rumours about their backers under fraud investigation and off course VJ's airline business not doing great

Sauber I think getting Gutierrez clearly has handicapped them compared to their pairing last season but it also seems like their car is not as great as last year on tyres and we're seeing the traditional Sauber trend of falling back due to lack of development

 

[KekeTheKing]

So apparently it was Force India that pioneered the "tire-swapping" technique. It is therefore unsurprising that they will suffer badly from all the changes going forward.

 

[RasputinLives]

So Adrian Sutil has just done an interview saying he is not sure where he'll be F1 wise next year and James Caledo is at the same time doing interviews about being in talks with Force India which kind of indicates what is likely to happen.

Hope FI can afford the repair bills where Caledo is concerned because for every quick performance he puts in at GP2 level he seems to put in one that ends in a big crunch

 

[Il_leone]

I think Force India are yet again going to leave it to the 11th hour to sort out their driver line up depending on if Di Resta leaves or not

Its a wait and see game for them I am surprised they don't want to re-sign Hulkenberg