Force India:

Force India Formula One Team Limited, trading as Force India F1, is a Formula One motor racingIndian businessman Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol bought the Spyker F1 team for € 88 million. Force India F1 represents increased IndianDelhi set to host the first Indian Grand Prix in 2011. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile confirmed the change in name from Spyker to Force India on 24 October 2007.

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, Force India scored points again in the following race when Adrian Sutil finished fourth, and set the teams first fastest lap, at the Italian Grand Prix. The teams current drivers are Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi, with Paul di Resta as the reserve.

Background:

Force India has its origins in the Jordan Grand Prix team, which entered Formula One racing in 1991 based at the Silverstone racing circuit. Jordan enjoyed many years in Formula One, winning four races and achieving third place in the 1999 constructors title. 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 to the Midland GroupMidland F1 Racing team spent two seasons at the back of grid, before owner Alex Shnaider sold the team on to Spyker Cars mid-way through the 2006 season. Spyker F1 scored a point in 2007 and briefly lead the European Grand Prix; despite this, the team once again hit financing issues, and was sold on to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Michiel Mol, Spyker’s Formula One Director. The team, brought for € 88 million, was renamed as in 2005. The re-named Force India Formula One Team for the 2008 season, and retained team principal Colin Kolles, Chief Technology Officer Mike Gascoyne and driver Adrian Sutil.

Racing history:

Adrian Sutil testing for Force India in January 2008.

2008: Beginnings and Ferrari engines

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; they were to drive an updated version of the Spyker F8-VIIB chassis with Ferrari engines, christened the Force India VJM01. Testing of the car begun in February, after the gold, tungsten and white liveried car was launched at the Gateway of India in Mumbai. 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.

Giancarlo Fisichella leads Adrian Sutil at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.

Melbourne was the scene of Force India's first race, and although the Australian Grand Prix gave the team a poor start with both drivers retiring in the first few laps, the following race in Malaysia saw Fisichella's twelfth place earn the teams first finish. After disappointing results in the opening races, Sutil gave the team the chance to score its first points in the wet Monaco Grand Prix, but towards the end of the race Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari lost control and hit Sutil's car causing immediate retirement. Although a furious Gascoyne called for Raikkonen to be penalised, overtakes under yellow flag conditions would of meant Sutil would have been giving a time penalty post-race, dropping him out of points. 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; team owner Mallya had realised underinvestment and continued changes of ownership had lead the team to fall behind. Force India had been focusing on 2009 since Mallya brought the team, believing that the new regulations would yield better results. Despite halting work on the VJM01, Fisichella put his car to a season-best 12th on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix during a extremely wet qualifying session; he was however to crash out during the race. Fisichella continued his good form by reaching second during the Singapore round and fifth at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix; a safety car before his pit stop prevented points in Singapore, while transmission issues in Brazil left him 18th and two laps down. Force India finished the season tenth place in the Constructors Championship, and Fisichella achieved the best finish of tenth at the Spanish Grand Prix.

2009: Mercedes engines and success

Force India retained the same drivers for the 2009 season. At the wet 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, Sutil almost secured Force India's first points, holding sixth place in front of Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock with six laps remaining when aquaplaning led to the Force India car skidding off the road and crashing out of the race. At the German GP, Sutil qualified in seventh place and battled for the points, reaching second at one point, before crashing with Kimi Räikkönen after leaving the pitlane and being forced to pit again to change a broken front wing. He finished 15th.

Force India gained their first pole position in Formula One when Fisichella qualified fastest at the Belgian GPSpa. He finished the race in second position, less than a second behind Kimi Räikkönen earning Force India's first ever points and podium position. Missing the win was blamed on the car's lack of KERS, a feature present in the Ferrari. in

On 3 September 2009, Force India announced that they were releasing Fisichella to allow him to race for Scuderia Ferrari for the remainder of the season. It was announced four days later that test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi would replace Fisichella for the remaining races.

In the qualifying session of the 2009 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Sutil qualified second and Liuzzi, on his debut for the team, qualified seventh. On race day, Sutil finished fourth and clocked the fastest lap of the race. While running fourth in the race, Liuzzi had to retire due to a gear box failure. Force India finished the season 9th in front of Scuderia Toro Rosso with 13 points, however, this didn't reflect the vast improvement Force India made from the start of the season.

VJM02

Main article: Force India VJM02

Vitantonio Liuzzi at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.

The VJM02 is powered by Mercedes-Benz engines from the 2009 season after signing a five year deal on 10 November 2008. The deal also includes supply of McLaren-Mercedes gearboxes, hydraulic systems and Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS). The car was revealed on March 1, 2009. The VJM02 was the first Force India car to pick up points, pole and fastest lap at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix but the race was won by Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen.

2010

Vitantonio Liuzzi driving during practice for the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The team announced on 27 November 2009, that it is to keep Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi for the 2010 season. The team tested Paul di Resta and J. R. Hildebrand at Jerez, with di Resta setting a much faster time. The VJM03 will be the team's 2010 Formula One season chassis. Di Resta was confirmed as the team's test driver on February 2, 2010. On 9 February 2010, Force India unveiled their new car, the VJM03, which will be used in the 2010 season.

The 2010 season began with points in Bahrain, with Liuzzi finishing in ninth position. Sutil had qualified in tenth, but was involved in a first-lap incident with the Renault of Robert Kubica. He ultimately recovered to finish in twelfth position. In Australia, Sutil again qualified in the top ten, with Liuzzi qualifying thirteenth. Liuzzi finished the race in seventh, while Sutil retired with an engine problem. In Malaysia Sutil scored ten points with fifth and Liuzzi retired early due to a throttle issue, his first retirement of the season. In the next few races, apart from a retirement from Liuzzi, the Force Indias had quiet races in the midfield, staying mainly out of the action in front of and behind them, with Sutil scoring points in Spain. At Monaco both cars finished the race in eighth and ninth, avoiding the numerous incidents, giving the team their first double points finish. In Turkey, Sutil finished 9th scoring two points, while Liuzzi finished 13th. At the following race in Montreal, both cars finished in the points, with Liuzzi finishing 9th and Sutil in 10th.

Sponsorship

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

Partners

In December, Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, and Force India Formula One Team announced an exclusive three-year multi-million 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. Force India F1 has tied up with Airbus and EADS for technological support, and has a technical partnership with McLaren.

^{Complete Formula OneResults:}

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Points	WCC
2008	Force India VJM01	Ferrari V8 056	B		AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	TUR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	CHN	BRA		0	10th
				Adrian Sutil	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	15	Ret	Ret	13	19	Ret	Ret	Ret	16
				Giancarlo Fisichella	Ret	12	12	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	18	Ret	16	15	14	17	Ret	14	Ret	17	18
2009	Force India VJM02	Mercedes V8 FO 108W	B		AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	TUR	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	BRA	ABU			13	9th
				Adrian Sutil	9	17	17	16	Ret	14	17	17	15	Ret	10	11	4	Ret	13	Ret	17
				Giancarlo Fisichella	11	18	14	15	14	9	Ret	10	11	14	12	2
				Vitantonio Liuzzi													Ret	14	14	11	15
2010	Force India VJM03	Mercedes V8 FO 108X	B		BHR	AUS	MAL	CHN	ESP	MON	TUR	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	BRA	ABU	58*	6th*
				Adrian Sutil	12	Ret	5	11	7	8	9	10	6	8	17	Ret	5
				Vitantonio Liuzzi	9	7	Ret	Ret	15	9	13	9	16	11	16	13	10