The Only Indian F1 Team

The name Force India invokes proud memories from the not-so-distant past. For many, it was the thing that got them interested in Formula One and made them big fans of the sport. But the team is history now and it didn't leave the kind of legacy it would have hoped to have left. What went wrong then? Let's take a deep look at the journey of India's first and only F1 team - Force India.

Beginnings

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Force India's origins rest in the Jordan Grand Prix team, which entered F1 in 1991. But as is the case with many smaller teams back then, they were plagued by financial woes and eventually performances dried up and race wins were far and few in between. The owner of this team sold it to the Midland Group, which named it Midland F1 Racing. It was midway through the 2006 season that Spyker Cars purchased the team but again, couldn't improve its performance. That's when Vijay Mallya, then chairman of the United Breweries Group and Michiel Mol, Spyker's Formula One Director purchased the team for €88 million, turning it into the Force India Formula One Team for the 2008 season.

Drivers

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Force India had a few high-profile drivers racing for it. In its first Formula 1 season, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella were the two drivers who raced for the team. Over the years, Sutil remained a common face for the team, while Nico Hülkenberg joined later. For the 2014 season, Force India signed Sergio Perez, the current Red Bull partner of Max Verstappen. Perez remained with Force India till the very end.

Wins

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Despite its small budgets, Force India achieved quite some success across its ten and a half years in F1. At the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, it achieved its first pole position. Over the years, the team won six podium finishes and also finished fourth in the Constructors' Championships in 2016 and 2017. During its final years, it was a formidable competitor in the midfield.

Other facts

Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org

In its inaugural year, the Force India Formula One Team used a Ferrari engine in its car. But for all subsequent years of its existence, it used Mercedes engines. In October 2011, Sahara India Pariwar bought 42.5% of Force India F1's shares and the team's name was changed to Sahara Force India F1 Team.

End

It was in 2017 that Vijay Mallya got accused of fraud and defaulting on loans. The pressure was such that he could not afford to continue to run Force India. By July 2018, the team announced that they had been put into administration by the High Court in London. The same year saw the team's assets being bought by a consortium of investors, named Racing Point UK. This consortium was led by Lawrence Stroll, who named the new team Racing Point Force India. In 2019, that team name was changed to Racing Point, but the following year saw it being rebranded to Aston Martin, which currently has Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll as its two drivers.

The Force India legacy in Formula 1 won't feel like much from an outsider's perspective. But for us Indians, it represents something worth being proud of. Seeing the team come home for the first time during the 2011 Indian Grand Prix made us hope for a rich future for the country in the world of Formula One but that was unfortunately not meant to be.