Posts Tagged Force India

F1’s youngest team (in name, at least) spent most of the 2008 season learning the ropes of how to compete in the sport. Performance was very poor compared to the rest of the field. However, no-one ever expected a below-par Spyker, repainted as Force India, to perform near the top of the field. The first highlight of an otherwise dismal season was the 2008 Monaco GP, where Adrian Sutil was running in 4th position, until an accident with Kimi Raikonnen took him out of the race. In Singapore, Fisichella had run as high as 3rd place before a safety car ruined his strategy.

2009 promises to be a fresh start for Force India. The new car is named the VJM02, and is a drastic departure from the old car. The VJM02 will use the same engine, gearboxe, hydraulic systems and KERS employed by Mercedes-McLaren. This will drastically improve the car’s performance and reliability. Interestingly, Mercedes-McLaren is (at the time of writing) the only team to have officially announced that they will run with KERS from the first race of the season, due to their system being completely ready. This means that Force India will most probably also start with KERS, which will give them an advantage compared to some major players, such as Toyota, Williams and Red Bull, all of whom have announced they will not be running KERS in Australia.

Force India will keep their two drivers from the 2008 season – Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella is currently one of the most experienced drivers in the field, and the much younger Adrian Sutil has shown a lot of promise. Fisichella has however expressed that if he has another dismal season like 2008 he will most probably retire from the sport.

2009 may just be the start of something great for Force India. The new regulations means that all the teams had to start from a blank sheet. Force India has Mercedes-McLaren propulsion, which is some of the best equipment in the field. Team boss Vijay Mallya will surely do his best to prove that his team, and his country, is capable of competing at the pinnacle of motorsport.