page_title: Spyker F8-VII
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Spyker F8-VII / Design
caption_attribution_description: Adrian Sutil driving for Spyker at the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.
context_page_description: The Spyker F8-VII was a Formula One car, constructed by Spyker F1 that competed in the 2007 Formula One World Championship. A "B Specification" car named the Spyker F8-VIIB was launched at the Italian Grand Prix and used for the remainder of the 2007 season. The engine of Spyker F8-VII car was Ferrari 056 despite the team opted for 2006-spec engine due to cost reasons. For the 2008 World Championship, Force India used a slightly modified version of the F8-VIIB, called the Force India VJM01 named after team owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol. The VJM01 used 2007-spec Ferrari 056 engines instead of 2008-spec. The F8-VII was the only car constructed by Spyker F1 in their own right after their take-over from the struggling Midland F1 team part way through 2006.
context_section_description: The F8-VII was described by the team as a solid base on which to build, as they had a relatively short period of time to produce the new F1 car. James Key, the technical director of Spyker F1, said, "We also tried to second guess as best we could what the 2007 tyres were going to do, and we worked hard on aero, which is of course always the fundamental thing. That way we could concentrate all our efforts on performance related areas."
  The car was not competitive and scored only one point.
  Remarkably for an unsuccessful car, in his only ever race, Marcus Winkelhock started last at the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring but after getting his tactics right at the start of the wet race (by changing tyres after the warm up lap), Winkelhock found himself leading the race with a 33-second lead after just two laps due to most of the field either pitting for wet tyres or spinning off. The race was stopped due to the dangerous conditions. Winkelhock officially led the race for 7 laps but as the conditions improved following the restart, he slid down the field in his uncompetitive car and eventually retired after 15 laps.
caption: Sutil driving the F8-VIIB at the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.
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