Force India

**Force India Team Limited**, commonly known as **Force India** and later **Sahara Force India**, was a Formula 1.5 racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch businessman Michiel Mol bought the Spyker team for €88 million.

Force India won 3 constructors titles in 2012, 2016 and 2017 as well as winning the driver titles in the same years.

## History

### 2008

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.

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 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 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 Räikkönen to be penalised, overtakes under yellow flag conditions would have meant Sutil receiving 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 led 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 an extremely wet qualifying session; he was however to crash out during the race.

The team finished their debut season with 9 points in 7th place in the championship.

### 2009 Season

Force India retained the same drivers for the 2009 season. The VJM02 was powered by Mercedes-Benz engines, after the team signed a five-year deal on 10 November 2008. The deal also included a supply of McLaren-Mercedes gearboxes, hydraulic systems and the KERS feature. The car was revealed on 1 March 2009.

Force India gained their first pole position in Formula One at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, when Fisichella qualified fastest.

On 3 September 2009, Force India announced that they were releasing Fisichella from his contract to allow him to race for 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.

Force India made a step forward in 2009, moving to fourth in the championship with 97.5 points and getting their first two wins during the season as well.

### 2010 Season

The team announced on 27 November 2009, that it was 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. Di Resta was confirmed as the team's test driver on 2 February 2010. On 9 February 2010, Force India unveiled their new car, the VJM03, which was to be used in the 2010 season.

A number of senior personnel left the team during the season, with technical director James Key being the highest-profile member, leaving to join Sauber in a similar role. Chief designer Lewis Butler, senior aerodynamicist Marianne Hinson, and commercial director Ian Phillips also left the outfit.

The team made a huge step forward again in 2010, whilst still finishing fourth they scored 255 points, more than double the ammount of points from the season previous in 2009.

### 2011 Season

On 26 January 2011, the team announced that reserve driver Paul di Resta would be promoted to a race seat for the 2011 season, to partner Adrian Sutil. The team launched their new car, the VJM04 on 8 February 2011 via an online launch. The VJM04 is the first car created under new technical director Andrew Green and developed using the resources from partners McLaren Applied Technologies and Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines.

Yet more year on year progress was made by Force India, moving up to second in the constructors championship scoring 388 points and taking 4 wins.

### 2012 Season

For their 2012 line-up, the team retained Paul di Resta and replaced Adrian Sutil with their 2011 reserve driver, Nico Hülkenberg. Jules Bianchi was later named as the team's reserve driver, and will also take part in Friday practice for the team during the season. The team's car, the VJM05, was launched at Silverstone on 3 February.

The Force India crew tried to pull out of the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix due to a revolution against the regime and the death of a protester. However, after the team's refusal to take to the circuit, there was a confrontation between F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone and the Force India team.

2012 was a testament to how well the team improved every year, improving to win the constructors title for the first time and also taking the drivers title for Nico Hulkenberg. The team took 483 points over the season which was their 5th year of improving their points tally in a row. The team took 6 wins over the season.

### 2013 Season

The 2013 line-up featured Paul di Resta for the third successive year. The season also witnessed Adrian Sutil returning to the team line-up, replacing Nico Hülkenberg as the team's Second Driver. The team's new car, the VJM06 was launched on 1 February 2013 at the team's base near the Silverstone Circuit.

2013 saw Force India drop to 2nd in the championship, failing to protect their crown from 2012. They still won 6 grand prix, like the previous year, however consistancy stopped them from winning.

### 2014 Season

Nico Hülkenberg returned to the team for 2014, while Paul di Resta was replaced by Sergio Pérez. Adrian Sutil moved to Sauber and was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg from Sauber. Daniel Juncadella was signed by the team as a reserve driver.

2014 saw major regulations changes that dropped them to third in the championship, however they still performed strong scoring 452 points over the season with 3 wins.

### 2015 Season

On 19 October 2014, the team stated Hülkenberg had secured his seat for 2015. On 7 November 2014, before the Brazilian Grand Prix, Force India announced that Pérez would remain with the team for the 2015 season. Pérez stated that contract negotiations were "ongoing", in regards to a further contract extension. The deal was officially confirmed two weeks later at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Pérez signing a two-year contract, until the end of the 2016 season.

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". 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." 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. The car was an updated version of last year's challenger and was immediately reliable.

The struggles with money meant they couldn't upgrade the car as they liked which meant they could only accomplish a third place finish in the constructors, scoring 326 points and taking 2 wins.

### 2016 Season

Force India retained Hülkenberg and Pérez for a third successive season in 2016. The team would go on to win the constructors championship for the second time in their history scoring 561 points and taking 9 wins over the season. The team also won the drivers championship with Sergio Perez.

### 2017 Season

In 2017, Hülkenberg left Force India to join Renault. Esteban Ocon was signed to replace him in his first full season in Formula 1.5, having driven for Manor during the second half of the 2016 season. Pérez remained at Force India for a fourth season.

The VJM10 brought a change to a pink livery, following a new sponsorship deal with BWT.

The team went on to win the constructors for the third time and second year in a row, with what would be their most succesful year in their history scoring 616 points with 8 wins. Perez also won the drivers title for the second year running, pipping Ocon who finished runners up.

### 2018 Season

For the 2018 season the team retained the 2017 line up of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon.

The team was put into administration during the Hungarian Grand Prix. The legal action was instigated by a group of creditors, including Sergio Pérez, as a means of allowing the team to continue to operate while a new owner was sought. Pérez justified the action as a response to a winding-up petition filed by HMRC and supported by Formtech, a supplier, which would have resulted in an unmanaged insolvency of the company and almost certain collapse of the team. A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll ended up acquiring the team's assets.

Approaching the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, the situation regarding the team's ability to compete remained unsure, as in order to buy the shares in the team, the consortium needed agreement with the creditors of the parent company - including 13 banks which held a freezing order over the assets of the parent. Agreement could not be reached in time, so the consortium was unable to buy the shares, and was limited to purchasing only the assets of the team. The team then had to participate in the F1 Championship under a new name, thus the adding of "Racing Point" to the team's name. The FIA excluded the former Force India entry from the championship "due to its inability to complete the season", and welcomed the new legal entity, Racing Point Force India F1 Team, that was allowed to race, but not to keep any points of the old team. This signaled the end of the constructor that had been founded for the 2008 season.

## F1.5 Results

**Bold** indicates Drivers' Champion

1. ↑  Force India was excluded from the 2018 constructors after going into administration at the Belgian Grand Prix and rebranding to a new race team called Racing Point. Prior to the exclusion Force India scored 219 points.