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.
 
Well it solves FI's financial issues in the short term but I can't see this leading to them remaining at the front of the midfield pack. Stroll continues to benefit from nepotism which will mean regardless of whatever talent may or may not be there, daddy's little rich boy will always be the tag.

The effect on Williams could be positive but more likely negative given they are losing the financial input of the Stroll family and Martini.

Who is going to fill that void?

It's a critical time for Williams.
 
Lance will be in the car for the next 3 to 5 years and be about as succesful as Hector Rebaque (there's one for the kids). Daddy will then install him as Team Principal or Chief Designer and the whole thing will be over with another 2 years as they disappear down the back of the grid and then down the bog. What then happens to the team is anyones guess.
 
I love my kids to bits and would do all I could to set them up but there are limits.

Some people argued that despite the huge leg up he's had, Stroll did have enough talent to justify a seat at various levels of motorsport anyway.

I've certainly not seen enough to justify that claim in F1 but haven't followed any of his career in lower formula. It's made even harder to judge due to how poor the Williams has been.
 
've certainly not seen enough to justify that claim in F1 but haven't followed any of his career in lower formula. It's made even harder to judge due to how poor the Williams has been.

very true, he came in on reputation winning championships in 2014 2015 & 2016, F3 in 2016 being some good people like Gunther, Ilott, Russell, Sette Camara, as proved in GP3 & F2. he has not impressed for the most part sirokin has almost beaten him, hes had quality drives like Monza & Baku. Williams is so bad even kubica looked terrible in it then came out & unusually ripped into the team

also some breaking news ive found. which might be interesting

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lawrence-stroll-set-to-buy-force-india-report/
 
I love my kids to bits and would do all I could to set them up but there are limits.
It benefits everyone. Lawrence can use the team like Mallya has, i.e. to launder money and Lancelots career continues. Maybe his sister can sing write a team anthem and sing it, though she's just as talented as her brother in motor racing, when it comes to singing.
 
Well you can't say Lance Stroll has really helped Williams with the money his Dad has bought in:whistle: Paddy Lowe looks a bit stupid for trying to do PR and say they would like to keep him. I don't see Claire Williams making a big thing about it

I think if Williams get another experienced driver next season they might move further up the grid at least to beat Toro Rosso
 
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Sounds like this is all a play to get rid of Vijay and possibly for Mercedes to move in and buy the team. Could be Stroll and Perez are going to be part owners as well.

Very interesting the extremes they have had to go to in order to rid themselves of Vijay Mallya. Good luck to them and hopefully this will secure the teams future and not see them disappear.
 
Isn't Perez backed by Carlos Slim? There has been rumours of him buying into Force India for years. Would not surprise me to see Slim and Stroll enter into a joint venture.
 
Some articles on GPToday suggest it was Perez who wants his backpay, and that demand triggered administration (perhaps earlier than initially assumed). It might have been preemptive strike from Perez. Whether it is smart strategy - well, I am not a lawyer.
 
I feel sorry for Ocon. There could be some domino effect in drivers lineup, and new owners might do what others have done - hire a pay driver. Sainz could be in a hot seat should Renault decide to drop him.
 
David Gold and David Sullivan would be fun! LOL :rolleyes:

Everyone involved seems to be saying this is a good thing. I guess we'll find out how attractive an efficiently run private F1 team is these days.
 
Ocon at Renault from the sound of things is almost going through which is good for him, it may not be good for Sainz in the short term , it will be good for Vandoorne if he is going to Toro Rosso

Not long ago VJ denied Force India were in money trouble yet he refuses to go back to India and answer about his business dealings which includes the collapse of his airline

The teams official entry is Sahara Force Indian F1 team- Sahara bought a 42.5% stake in the team and are title sponsor as well but yet there has been no word from the company with regards to why their investment is having financial difficulties

So the two perpetrators have a lot to answer to

Before people jump on Sergio Perez and Mercedes - they both have vested interests in their own future. Sergio is probably forced by his backers to seek money owed and Mercedes will want to provide young drivers to develop and give them proper chances. Unfortunately F1 has been littered with businessmen and businesses who have shady finance and it is impacted everyone's favourite underdog team

Force India have done a lot better without VJ being at trackside and Bob Fearnley running the team.. so I hope we don't see VJ again in F1
 
It said that one of the other creditors wanted the team to wind up . The biggest creditor is apparently VJ who is owed $160m so I suspect might be him
 
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