Force India

Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence.[1] The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch businessman Michiel Mol bought the Spyker F1 team for €88 million.

After going through 29 races without scoring points, Force India won their first Formula One world championship points and podium place when Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.[2] Force India scored points again in the following race when Adrian Sutil finished fourth, and set the team's first fastest lap, at the Italian Grand Prix. The team's other podium finishes are five third-places, in the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix, 2015 Russian Grand Prix, 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, 2016 European Grand Prix and the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, all achieved by Sergio Pérez.

In October 2011, Indian company Sahara India Pariwar, purchased 42.5% of Force India F1's shares at US$100 million.[3]

In 2018, Vijay Mallya, accused of fraud and defaulting on loans, could not afford to continue to run Force India. By July 2018, ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the team announced that they had been put into administration by the High Court in London.[4] The team's assets were bought by a consortium of investors, named Racing Point UK, led by Lawrence Stroll, the father of then Williams driver Lance Stroll.[5] The consortium used the assets to create a new entry into the sport named Racing Point Force India. The constructor that had been founded in 2008 ceased to exist prior to the 2019 Australian Grand Prix when the new team changed their constructor entry to "Racing Point".

History

Background

The team's origins stemmed from the Jordan Grand Prix team, which entered Formula One racing in based at the Silverstone circuit. Jordan enjoyed many years in Formula One, winning four races and achieving third place in the Constructors' Championship. However, like many of the smaller teams in the 2000s, financial problems meant the team's performance dried up, and team owner Eddie Jordan sold the team to the Midland Group in early 2005.

The Midland owned team renamed Midland F1 Racing in 2006 spent two seasons at the back of grid, before owner Alex Shnaider sold the team to Spyker Cars midway through the season.[6]

Spyker F1 scored a point in 2007 and briefly led the ; despite this, the team once again hit financing issues,[7] and was sold on to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, then chairman of the United Breweries Group

Sponsorship and partners

Kingfisher, a brand owned by Vijay Mallya, was the primary sponsor. Other sponsors for 2008 included ICICI Bank, Medion, Kanyan Capital, Reebok and Reliance Industries Limited.[94] The above sponsors, except ICICI Bank and Kanyan Capital, continued to sponsor the team in 2009. New sponsors include AVG, Airbus and Whyte & Mackay.

In December 2009, Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, and Force India Formula One Team announced an exclusive three-year multimillion-dollar partnership deal to offer a fully automated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solution to aid the design of the team's next generation race cars as well improve aerodynamic efficiency in the current racing models.[95]

Racing record

Driver development programme

During Force India's time in F1, the team supported multiple drivers on the FIA Global Pathway and gave them the opportunity to participate in Formula One test sessions. These drivers include:

Former drivers

External links

Sahara Force India - At IMDb

References

Force India StatsF1, retrieved 4 April 2022^
Spa-Francorchamps results BBC Sport, 30 August 2009, retrieved 30 August 2009^
Sahara buys 42% stake in Mallya's Force India F1 team The Times of India, The Times Group, 12 October 2011, retrieved 12 October 2011

2008 season

After retaining Adrian Sutil for the team's first season, Force India conducted winter tests for the second driver and testing roles. Ex-Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella was chosen for the race seat, and Vitantonio Liuzzi secured the reserve role;[10] they were to drive an updated version of the Spyker F8-VIIB chassis with Ferrari engines, christened the Force India VJM01.[11] Testing of the car begun in February, after the gold, tungsten and white liveried car was launched at the Gateway of India in Mumbai.[12] With an increased budget and wind tunnels from defence company EADS, the team set itself the target of beating Super Aguri, a squad which spent the previous seasons contesting at the back with Force India's predecessors.[13] Melbourne was the scene of Force India's first race, and although the gave the team a poor start with both drivers retiring in the first few laps,[14] the following race in Malaysia saw Fisichella's twelfth place earn the team's first finish. After disappointing results in the opening races, Sutil gave the team the chance to score its first points in the wet, but towards the end of the race Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari lost control and hit Sutil's car causing immediate retirement.[15] Although a furious Gascoyne called for Räikkönen to be penalised,[16] overtakes under yellow flag conditions would have meant Sutil receiving a time penalty post-race, dropping him out of points.[17] Continuous updates to improve reliability and performance allowed the team to close the gap to the fastest teams during the mid-season, despite Super Aguri's withdrawal meaning the two cars started from the rear of the grid for the majority of races. A seamless-shift transmission introduced at Valencia marked the end of development for the car;[18] team owner Mallya had realised underinvestment and continued changes of ownership had led the team to fall behind.[18] Force India had been focusing on since Mallya brought the team, believing that the new regulations would yield better results.[19][20] Despite halting work on the VJM01, Fisichella put his car to a season-best 12th on the grid at the during an extremely wet qualifying session; he was however to crash out during the race.[21] Fisichella continued his good form by reaching second during the Singapore round and fifth at the season-ending ; a safety car before his pit stop prevented points in Singapore, while transmission issues in Brazil left him 18th and two laps down.[22] Force India finished the season tenth place in the Constructors' Championship, and Fisichella achieved the best finish of tenth at the .[22]

2015 season

On 19 October 2014, the team stated Hülkenberg had secured his seat for 2015.[71] On 7 November 2014, before the, Force India announced that Pérez would remain with the team for the season.[72] Pérez stated that contract negotiations were "ongoing", in regards to a further contract extension. The deal was officially confirmed two weeks later at the, with Pérez signing a two-year contract, until the end of the season.[73] Force India missed the first pre-season test in Jerez, due to an unexplained setback in the development of the Force India VJM08. It was later revealed that Force India was, according to insider Ralf Bach, "facing financial collapse," and was "currently insolvent." He also suggested that the delays in the VJM08 were due to the fact that "important parts suppliers have not been paid".[74] Robert Fernley, deputy Team Principal, later admitted that the team was likely to miss all three pre-season tests, though he said that they might use the 2014 car to do some "driver and tyre work."[75] However, Force India's 2015 car finally broke cover when Hülkenberg hit the track on day two of the third and final test at Barcelona.[76] The car was an updated version of last year's challenger and was immediately reliable. They had a good start to the season with Hülkenberg finishing in a strong seventh place in the Australian Grand Prix.[77] However they struggled thereafter and did not score points until the Bahrain Grand Prix courtesy of an eighth-place finish by Pérez.[78] Both drivers delivered strong results in Monaco and Austria. The team later introduced a highly modified B-spec car at the 2015 British Grand Prix,[79] featuring two distinctive vents in the nose.[80] The car was a significant step forward from its predecessor, particularly in high-speed corners.[81] In Belgium, Pérez almost took the lead of the race on lap one and ultimately finished in a strong fifth place.[82] He followed up this drive with a sixth-place finish in Monza and seventh in Singapore. In September Sahara Force India lodged a formal complaint to the European Union against Formula One for breaching competition laws.[83] At the Russian Grand Prix, Pérez put Force India on the podium with a third-place finish, its first podium since the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix.[84] Hülkenberg and Pérez finished seventh and eighth in Pérez' home race in Mexico City. This upturn in form helped Force India achieve their best placing of 5th place with 136 points in the Constructors' Championship, although scoring 19 fewer points than its predecessor.[85] This is a remarkable achievement considering the team's financial plight and their late preparations of the season by delaying the B spec version of their car. The Force India VJM08 for 2015 was suitable for the aerodynamic changes from the 2014 season.

History

Background

Sponsorship and partners

Racing record

Driver development programme

Former drivers

External links

References

2008 season

2009 season

2010 season

2011 season

2012 season

2013 season

2014 season

2015 season

2016 season

2017 season

2018 season