Force India have been a colourful addition to the grid since 2008. The team owner, Indian businessman Vijay Mallya is a charismatic extrovert who has certainly invested heavily in building a F1 team; buying the Spyker F1 team in 2007 for € 88 million. To-date the team has had moderate success, but with the debut Indian GP in 2011, Force India's profile will inevitably increase and funds permitting the results may well improve. 

The team had raced in 29 GP's before claiming its first point finish, a second place podium at the 2009 Belgian GP achieved by Giancarlo Fisichella. Adrian Sutil set the team's first fastest lap in the same season at the Italian GP.

Force India had retained the services of Adrian Sutil for the 2011 season and has recruited the much-admired rookie Paul di Resta. Di Resta and Sutil will be expected to produce point finishes as the team continues to develop and needs to gain the support of the huge potential Indian fan base. 

Force India Facts and Stats
 

The current Force India can trace its linage back to the Jordan GP team that first entered F1 in 1991. The Jordan team had some success, particularly in 1999 when they won four races and were third in the constructors' championship. The team struggled financially and in 2005 the Midland F1 Racing purchased the team. However, Midland was unable to create any on track success and in mid 2006 Spyker cars purchased the team. A single championship point in 2007 was small reward and financial troubles once again intervened. The backing of Mallya has put the team on a more stable financial ground; nevertheless, the only sustainable long-term development of the team will be as a result of on track results.

The 2008 season was less than inspiring: The wonderfully colourful gold, tungsten and white liveried car that was launched at the Gateway of India in Mumbai, did not have the performance capabilities required to compete. Adrain Sutil retired in eleven of the eighteen race series with a best finish of thirteenth in Belgium. His teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was marginally better retiring from seven races and finishing the Spanish GP in tenth. Force India finished the season in tenth place in the constructors' championship. In effect Force India were in last place, the Super Aguri team was categorised in eleventh place but only raced in the first four races of the season before ceasing operations due to financial difficulties.

Throughout the 2008 season the team was developing the car for the 2009 season, such included replacing the Ferrari supplied engine with a Mercedes power plant and a number of upgrades to the chassis.

Sutil and Fisichella were retained for 2009, however in September Fisichella was released from his contract to allow him to replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari. (Luca Badoer had initially replaced Massa for two races). Vitantonio Liuzzi was promoted from test driver to replace Fisichella for the last five races of the season. It is somewhat ironic that Fisichella should leave the team after producing the team's best result to date, a second place finish at the Belgian GP. At the next race, the Italian GP, Sutil qualified second and Liuzzi, on his race debut for the team, qualified seventh. Sutil drove well in the race, achieving not just a fourth place finish, but also the fastest lap of the race. While running fourth in the race, Liuzzi had to retire due to a transmission failure.

The statics can sometimes be a little misleading, as such is certainly true of Force India's ninth place finish in the constructors' championship. The 13 points the team achieved did not reflect the vast improvements in performance and reliability the team achieved from the previous year. Indeed Force India had demonstrated that they were not satisfied with just driving in circles laps behind the front-runners, but actually had a plan and vision to compete. 

Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi were retained for the 2010 season, and once again, the team made further progress. Nevertheless, of concern were the numbers of key personnel that left during the season, including the technical director James Key and the chief designer Lewis Butler and the head of aerodynamics. The effects of such defections take time to measure, but stability and money are normally required to build a race winning team.

Sutil finished in the points in eight races in 2010, including two fifth place finishes in Malaysia and Belgium. Liuzzi scored points at six races. The team recorded three double point finishes and ended the season seventh in the constructors' just one point off Williams in sixth place. Whilst still not competing for top honours the team were leagues ahead of the back runners and had developed a credible car.  

The performance differential between Sutil and Liuzzi was too great to justify Liuzzi remaining with the team for the 2011 season. (47 points vs 21 points).

Paul di Resta is a relatively young British driver that many have suggested could be very fast, however, he struggled to get a drive because of sponsorship issues. Joining Force India illustrates that the team are seeking talent more than money, and if he is as fast as many predict and if the team can continue the engineering momentum, Force India may well be able to able to win their first race in 2011.
 

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