Spyker F1

The Spyker F1 Team was a Formula One team owned by Spyker, a Dutch car brand. It existed only in 2007. The team was bought from Midland in 2006 and was sold to become Force India later on in 2007. 

 History 

 2006 
In 2006, during the 2006 Formula One season, it was announced that Spyker had bought the struggling Midland F1 team. Every race that was left would be raced under the Spyker name and the livery would be changed to orange, because that's the national colour of the Netherlands.  

 2007 
In the 2007 season, the team was fully in the hands of Spyker. However, to the public, the team did not perform better than Midland. It was known as a backmarker, a team that almost always finds itself at the back of the grid. 

 Firing of Albers 
On the tenth of July it was announced that the only Dutch driver with Spyker, Christijan Albers, would be fired because his sponsors failed to pay the Spyker F1 team. He would be replaced by Winkelhock and, later on, Yamamoto. 

 2007 European Grand Prix 
During the 2007 European Grand Prix, held at the Nürburgring, Markus WInkelhock found himself leading the field in his only race for Spyker and in F1. This was because he was the only driver to make a pitstop before the race started. It was a rainy day and the team decided on wet tyres, as they work better in the rain than other compounds. This move put him in last, but many people in front of him either spun off or decided to get wet tyres for themselves. Suddenly, after passing the man in front, he was leading the race. At the height of his triumphant drive, he was 33 seconds in front of the driver in second. However, this wouldn't last long. Because of a series of crashes caused by the rain, the race was red-flagged. After the race restart, he was quickly overtaken by the faster cars behind him. He later on retired because of a hydraulics issue.

 Spyker F1 Sold 
At the end of 2007, Spyker F1 was sold to an Indian holding company called Orange India Holdings. This was officially the end for Spyker in Formula One. The team turned into Force India for the start of 2008.  

 Formula One Results 

 2007 
YearChassisEngineTyresDrivers1234567891011121314151617PointsWCC2007F8-VIIF8-VIIBFerrari 056 2.4 V8AUSMALBHRESPMONCANUSAFRAGBREURHUNTURITABELJPNCHNBRA110th Adrian Sutil17Ret1513RetRet1417RetRet1721†19148RetRet Christijan AlbersRetRet141419†Ret15Ret15 Markus WinkelhockRet Sakon YamamotoRet2020171217Ret

 References 

Category:Formula One constructors