Force India wants Formula One to visit India
It is India on the move once again with a lot of zeal and zest. This region is growing rapidly in all fields of life including the sports industry of India. The love of sports in general and auto sports in particular reaped its first fruit when an Indian team made it to Formula One racing. In 2009, Force India powered its way into Formula One competitive racing along with the biggest names of the motorsports history.
Force India was lucky to grab one pole, one podium and one fastest lap finish in the last season which resulted in the ending of the gloom and obscurity that was thought to be sheltering India’s motor sports till then. They sped ahead only to take their first tangible step of becoming the front runners in Formula One racing.
Force India - a dream and vision of successful business tycoon Dr. Vijay Mallya and the Mol family – slowly turned into a reality in 2007. Dr. Mallya is the proud son of Vittal Mallya, a famous industrialist and a successful business entrepreneur. The family also owns the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines along with various other small and medium enterprises in India. Besides owning the Force India team in Formula One racing, Vijay Mallya also owns a team in the Indian Premier League team under the Bangalore Royal Challengers banner and the East Bengal team of the FCI-League.
Towards the ending months of 2007, Force India was finalised and developed when Dr. Mallya laid the foundation of the joint venture company called Orange India Holdings.
It is co-owned by Michiel Mol who is involved in the software business but has been involved in Formula One racing since long. Both Mallya and Mol bought Force India from the Dutch manufacturers of cars known as Spyker Cars N.V. The team was then called the Spyker F1 team and was bought for € 88 million. It was on the 24th of October in 2007 that the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) accepted to change its name from Spyker to Force India.
In was in 2008 when the historical moment came as Force India F1 Team rolled onto the tracks for its first FIA Formula One World Championship in history. This was no mean achievement as it became the first ever Indian team to venture into Formula One racing.
At present, Force India is settled in Silverstone, UK, and is taking part in the 2010 F 1 Championship. This year marks Force India’s third year of the competition in Formula One racing, with its drivers Adrian Sutil from Germany and Tonio Liuzzi from Italy.
Force India is a team that has a very long way to go as it is counted amongst the relatively younger teams. But on the contrary, the team has a strong heritage and is rooted deep in the sports industry. Force India and its management holds its roots back to the ashes of the Jordan Grand Prix, which was created in 1991 by Irishman Eddie Jordan. The team was never able grow as one of the biggest teams in the field yet it possessed the ability to run constantly with the front teams of the industry. But of course, there had been instances when they were able to outrace them. As a team, Force India over the years was able to score three victories and numerous podiums in the Jordan Grand Prix.
After much toil and sweat, they finally stood amidst the most successful teams of Formula One racing. In 2004, the team was sold to the Midland Group by Jordan. Its name was changed to Midland F1 Racing in 2005. Later, in the year 2006, the team was purchased by Spyker Cars N.V. and it consequently became the Spyker Formula One team for the 2007 Championships.
However, in the next year, the team was not able to impress anyone on the track. Though a huge improvement was observed in terms of pace but the team failed to end with satisfactory scores. This somehow resulted in the restructuring of the Force India management after the season. The co-owner of the team Vijay Mallya took over as the team principal and a new technical tie-up was inked with McLaren in 2009.
In 2009, a dramatic progress was seen in the team’s performance in which the VJM02 - the car used by the team - improved enormously in its pace. In Belgium, Fisichella gave the breakthrough to the team with their first pole position, its first points and its first podium finish.
Currently, the team is successful in keeping their momentum of late has been groomed to be regular Q3’s along with earning regular point in Formula One Grand Prix’s. After embedding the colours of the Indian national flag, the team has become a representation of Indian sports at the global level. Force India has served to be a role model for the younger generation of India. What happened as a first in 2007 is going to be repeated in 2011 for India. New Delhi is all set to host the Indian Grand Prix in 2011 which will be the first ever on Indian soil too.
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