Drivers: Adrian Sutil | Giancarlo Fisichella

Website: www.forceindiaf1.com

The Force India squad carries the hopes of a nation on its shoulders – and its new technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes should help it start to deliver the success its ambitious boss Vijay Mallya craves.

Mallya believes Force India can help Formula 1 tap into India’s vast passion for sport, and wants to be competitive enough to fight for victory in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in 2011.

He wasn’t impressed by 2008’s point-less campaign and made major changes over the winter.

Ferrari engines, technical chief Mike Gascoyne and team manager Colin Kolles all headed for the exit, and in came a full McLaren-Mercedes drivetrain package.

Force India, in its various guises, has been glued to the back of the grid for several seasons now, but Mallya hopes the McLaren deal will elevate it into regular top-10 territory this year.

The experienced Giancarlo Fisichella and the talented but inconsistent Adrian Sutil stay on board, and will hope their team owner’s optimism is well-placed.


F1 track record

The arrival of Mallya brought stability to the Silverstone-based team after four changes of ownership in as many seasons.

The team began life as Jordan in 1991, when charismatic Irishman Eddie Jordan decided to move his ultra-successful team from the junior series to F1.

The squad arrived with a bang – its attractive green 191 chassis earning fifth in the constructors’ championship.

After that the harsh realities of F1 hit, and it would be three seasons before Jordan reached the podium, and another four before it won a race.

Two more victories followed in 1999, when Heinz-Harald Frentzen looked like he might even snatch the title for Jordan.

That proved to be the team’s high point, for Jordan was ill-equipped to match the lavishly funded manufacturer squads that flooded into F1 in the early 2000s.

A shock win in Brazil in 2003 provided a last hurrah for the team, which slithered ever further down the field before being bought by Russian Alex Shnaider’s Midland corporation in early 2005.

Even before the team’s 2006 relaunch as MF1 Racing there were rumours that Shnaider had already lost interest, and sure enough a Dutch consortium took over later in the year.

Their reign also proved short-lived.

The team was renamed Spyker, in deference to the Dutch sportscar company that formed part of the ownership group, but the car firm’s financial troubles threatened to filter down to the F1 operation.

The team pressed on amid this uncertainty, but with little money to spend and no stability, the cars were firmly rooted to the back of the grid.

The news in late 2007 that existing director Michiel Mol was joining Mallya in a buyout finally gave the hard-working squad some cause for optimism, and although 2008 didn’t deliver the hoped-for progress, the future still looks bright.