Sidepodcast

Force India Confirm Liuzzi and Sutil for 2010

Force India have announced their line up for next season, continuing with the two drivers who finished the 2009 season for them - Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi.

Regarding the announcement, team boss Vijay Mallya said:

"We are very pleased to retain the services of both Adrian and Tonio for another season. We have always maintained that consistency is key at this stage in the team's development and for the first time in many years we will have the continuity of not only the same drivers, but also the same engine and senior management. With this stability now in place I truly believe we have an excellent platform to build on and move forward on our strong 2009 performance. I am sure we have one of the most dynamic line-ups on the grid and I hope this will stand us in good stead in what we all hope will be a transitional year for the team."

Sutil is confident that the team are heading in the right direction and is looking forward to next year:

Next season I want to be in the points on a regular basis, maybe even challenging for the podium, and the team has exactly the same goals.

While Liuzzi is keen to pick up from where the team left off in 2009 and show everybody what he feels they can do:

It was always my goal to be back racing in 2010 and I’ve finally achieved it. I feel the five races I did in 2009 were a bit of a warm-up; get back racing, learn the car, get the feeling back. Now I’ve done that I feel ready to really push next season.

Not a surprise, I'm sure, but it's good to get more 2010 seats confirmed for our wiki page. The team also added that an announcement regarding the third driver will be made following next weeks young driver test.

Liuzzi Confirmed at Force India

Force India have confirmed that Antonio Liuzzi will step up to fill the seat left by Fisichella, who as we know has moved up to Ferrari. In the statement released by the team, Mallya said:

I’m delighted to give Tonio the opportunity to get back into a race seat, which I know he has been itching to do for the past two years. Force India is now in a very competitive position and we need a driver who can continue this momentum.

Meanwhile Tonio is looking forward to getting behind the wheel in anger again:

I’m very motivated, I’m in good shape and hungry to get some more points on the board. Although it’s unfortunate that this came about as an direct result of Felipe’s accident, this is my opportunity to show people what I can do and I’m really looking forward to it.

Force India VJM02 Launched

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

The 2009 Force India car has now made it's appearance - one of the last teams to do so. Just Toro Rosso (and Honda, if they make it to the grid) have yet to be revealed. The VJM02 was released as it took to the track for the first day of this week's Jerez test. The new car features an updated livery, with white, orange and green paintwork to simulate the Indian flag.

Their driver lineup remains unchanged, with both Fisichella and Sutil relying on this season to prolong their F1 careers. Fisi looked as though he was coming to the end of his Formula 1 days when he was ousted from Renault, but Force India provided him with a lifeline, in need of a driver with plenty of experience. He needs a good year to prevent his seat from being snapped up by a new, and more youthful, driver. Sutil wants to become more competitive this year, as his skills are wasted at the back of the pack. He has previously been touted as the next big thing, but without the machinery under him to prove it, that title has moved on to others, such as Kubica and Vettel.

Of course, they are not the only ones who want to step up in 2009. Team owner Vijay Mallya says they have no excuses this year. He admitted that if there was no improvement he would be bitterly disappointed, as they have worked hard over the winter. The one drawback is that the deal with Mercedes to provide engines, having switched from Ferrari, was signed very late, and meant getting the car ready was a lot tighter than they had imagined. However, any little problems should be sorted out after the first few races, and then we want to see some results.

Mallya admits that being compared with McLaren isn't an issue, in fact it is helpful. He knows they won't be on a par with them, performance-wise, but running the same components means they can narrow down the areas that are slowing them down.

On the first day of testing, the Force India finished ahead of both McLaren and Renault, although granted, testing times must always be taken with a pinch of salt. However, things are looking up for the team, and let's hope they have a good year in 2009.

When We Walked in Fields of Green

Pictures have emerged today of a new Force India car with sparkling new livery. There's a lot more green on the car, but thankfully this new iteration remains gold-free. With Williams choosing their blue and white look rather than the dark blue we had so enjoyed in testing, this Force India simply adds to the number of white cars on the grid. The nose is heavy on colour, with orange teaming up with the green to represent the Indian flag, but ultimately, it is yet another one going with the safe option. At least the new livery lessens the risk of the VJM02 being constantly confused with the MP4-24 out on track.

It's unclear at the moment whether the pictures are supposed to be circulating or not. The team announced their launch for this Sunday, the 1st March, but an awful lot of information seems to be appearing today instead. Official pictures were released, some were taken down, others were encouraged. Either someone jumped the gun, or their organisational skills rival ours here at Sidepodcast Towers. Oh well, who schedules a launch for a Sunday anyway?

The car will be seen out on track at Jerez in the coming week, and it will be good to see some action from Force India. The team haven't been out and about since the end of last year, and their recent trip to Silverstone was kept super-secret until after the event. It makes you wonder if they have something for us to be curious about, although I haven't spotted any dodgy diffusers or crazy flip ups to question. Chances are they were simply saving money, keeping their heads down and working on the car.

Talking of money, at first glance it looks like the team have acquired some new sponsors, with Whyte & Mackay replacing Fly Kingfisher on the sidepods. On closer inspection, however, it turns out that this is yet another Mallya brand, a make of Scotch whisky, and the entrepreneur is capitalising on the advertising abilities of Formula 1 once again. I suppose in these troubled times, if you can't get a sponsor, the easiest thing is to market yourself.

The driver lineup remains the same, of course, and the overalls carry a nice shade of orange to match the car. In fact, the design is similar to that of the McLaren boys, and from a distance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking one for the other. They've moved the problem from the car to the drivers! Still, in terms of liveries, this is an improvement on last year (and on all ING sponsored Renaults), so now it is just a case of wait and see to determine whether their pace has stepped up as well.

Do They Party as Hard as We Do?

Force India have issued a press release today that seems to have snuck under the radar a little bit. It doesn't make for heavy reading, and there's no earth shattering news in there, but it certainly does brighten up one's day.

Dr Vijay Mallya is making a point that the Force India F1 Team partied like it was 1999 this year, and they intend to keep on doing so. The press release lists a whole host of celebrity names I've never heard of, and three that I have, but it's the little details that make me smile.

The idea of Sakon Yamamoto taking to the decks to DJ a set for an FIF1 party is something that will keep me going for days. Cricketers mingling with Bollywood beauties, all bopping around to the tunes from the hands of an F1 driver. Only at a Mallya party, I reckon.

Anyway, the point to all this is that in these troubled times, it's nice to know there is still fun to be had. It may be all about cost-cutting here, scrimping and saving there, but the champagne still needs drinking and Mallya knows just the people to do so.

This gets a hearty thumbs up from me, because half the battle of turning around a recession is getting people to believe things will be okay. The press release signs off:

The team gave Good Times and promises to give more Good Times during the 2009 season.

That's good times with a capital G & T. I'll drink to that.

Daily: 14th December 2008

It's Race of Champions day, and with that, plus the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards being given out, and a show today, we're going to be rushed off our feet - just how we like it. There was some discontent in the comments yesterday over Wembley's rather strict policy on cameras, but I hope this doesn't take away from what should be a great experience for those attending in person. We're going to stick around and live comment it from the safety of home, so stay tuned if you want to join us.

Elsewhere in Formula 1:

• Vijay Mallya has decided that he is sticking with the 2009 lineup that he had already announced, Fisi and Sutil. Why the comment that he had to check with McLaren first then? Is he surrendering to the bosses already?
• Do you think Hamilton can get his hands on yet another trophy by picking up the SPOTY award today? The odds seem to be swaying between him and one of the Olympic team - the cyclist or the swimmer. He'll be annoyed to miss out two years in a row, won't he?
• Rumour has it that South Africa wouldn't mind getting back on the F1 calendar sometime soon. The track at Kyalami would undergo the Tilke treatment though, so do we actually care about this one way or the other?

As I said above there's going to be lots going on today, so don't feel bound by any of the subjects I've mentioned above. Feel free to discuss any topics that come to mind, especially if there's breaking news we need to know about. See you in the comments.

2008 Season Review - Force India

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

Vijay Mallya took over the ailing Spyker team in time for the 2008 season, and immediately there appeared to be a new lease of life amongst the back markers. Mallya brought with him the enthusiasm of an entire nation, plus a hefty budget that had previously been missing at the team.

They signed up Fisichella and Sutil - bringing the experience of Formula 1 from the former Renault driver, and the experience of the team from Sutil. Everything looked good for the new season.

At the start of the year, Mallya's aims were pretty modest. He wanted to get through to the second session of qualifying. Then he would look at moving up into the points, and maybe even a podium finish. Unfortunately, escaping Quali 1 was a much harder task than the team had initially thought.

There were a few highs for Force India, but almost always they were followed by terrible lows. Sutil managed to get up to fourth position at Monaco, and they were so close to a great points finish, until Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and knocked Sutil out. Likewise, Fisichella's good performances often ended in crashing out or reliability issues.

There was a definite improvement throughout the year, and by the end of the season, Mallya had reduced his aims to a modest summary, saying that they had managed to bring the car up from the back of the grid. Although quite often finishing towards the back, and facing blue flags throughout a race, Mallya was simply happy that they had caught other teams up, and become competitive. Honda, being a particular example, are now fighting for positions with Force India on a regular basis.

For the future, Force India will be switching from Ferrari engines to McLarens, which will mean a lot of changes to the car. However, this is a great time to do it, with the regulations toppling everything on its head anyway. For the moment, we have confirmation that Fisichella and Sutil will return in 2009, however with McLaren taking a bigger interest in the team, this may be subject to change in the future.

Nevertheless, 2009 should see the team become even more competitive, and hopefully they can get their first ever championship point.

Changes at Force India

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

At the beginning of the season, the only goal Force India had was to get through the first session of qualifying and have a driver take a shot at the top 15. They achieved this, so the objectives moved on. The team wanted to score their first championship point of the season, but unfortunately, it was not to be.

Having suffered a point-less debut season, team owner Vijay Mallya has decided to make a change for his second year. Firstly, the team have parted company with engine suppliers Ferrari. The customer contract was supposed to expire in 2009, but Mallya has ended it early. They did confirm a few weeks ago that talks were ongoing with McLaren for a Mercedes deal, but as yet there has been no confirmation. Mallya did say that he would be happy to reimburse Ferrari for any costs they had incurred on next season's engine.

Secondly, and more importantly, Mallya has reorganised the management structure of the team, taking over a lot of the responsibility himself. He admitted that Force India is one of the biggest challenges he has ever taken on, and having watched the team for a year, he's now ready to take a more hand-on approach. This means that previous technical team Mike Gascoyne and Colin Kolles are now out of a job. The pair have been in the news this year for disagreeing over the way the team should move forward, so it would seem that neither of their ideas was to Mallya's liking.

At the moment, he has taken over the role of Team Principal, and is organising the day to day running of the team, however he has said a new technical structure will be announced next week.

It seems very unusual for a team to ditch two of the most important people in their team. Even if the pair of them weren't getting on, you would assume that at least one of them was capable of taking the team forward. Mallya doesn't have as much experience of running a motorsports team, let alone an F1 team, but perhaps his announcement next week will bring on board someone who will be more to his liking.

Thankfully, the team already announced they would be keeping the same drivers, which will lead to some consistency for next season. It always takes time for reorganisations to work themselves out, so keeping the same drivers should help them enormously.

Force India Keep Drivers for 2009

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

Force India owner Vijay Mallya announced at the end of last week that he would retain both Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella for the 2009 season, after being impressed with their work so far.

The team have yet to score a point this year, but have seen an improvement in performance from the team’s previous guises of MidlandF1 and Spyker. In Monaco, Sutil was running in fourth before being knocked out by Raikkonen’s out of control Ferrari. The team were visibly upset, but it showed a marked rise in the team’s ability to be competitive. Their best finish this year was Fisichella’s tenth place in Spain, and although they have been very unlucky, it’s clear they’re making steps forward. Being a backmarker can be difficult for a team, as collisions and reliability are often an issue. Between both drivers, they have suffered 18 retirements so far this year, out of 34 starts. This will be something they’ll want to improve upon for the coming year.

They will also want to get that vital point for the team, as they have come close a couple of times this year. Of course it has been more due to luck and good strategy, than real pace, but just a single point can be a huge boost to a team who are more used to being lapped each race weekend.

Sutil joined the team when they were Spyker, and is in his second year as part of the lineup. However, his progress has been lauded, and he has constantly outshone his previous team mates. This year, he was partnered with Fisichella, who was ousted from the Renault team at the end of 2007. The Italian has plenty of experience, having celebrated his 200th Grand Prix start this year, and having been on the top step of the podium 3 times in his 13 years of racing.

There have been rumours that the management at Force India has become fractured, with technical director Mike Gascoyne wanting to move in one direction, and team principal Colin Kolles preferring another. However, Vijay Mallya has already said it doesn’t matter if there are disagreements, his say is final.

Regarding the two drivers, Mallya simply acknowledged that he was very happy with their performance and he is glad of the consistency going into 2009.

Who Says F1 Doesn't Recycle?

Vijay Mallya certainly seems determined to get the name of his team out there, he's now started television adverts in India. I've never seen a Formula 1 team specifically advertising themselves. You quite often see an F1 car zip across the bottom of a Renault advert, for example, but purely to advertise the team?

Here is the advert in it's full glory [spotted on Rediscover Formula One].

Not that bad, really, is it?

Here's the thing. Eagle eyes have spotted that the footage used in the new promo, actually belongs to Toyota. Here's a still from one of the German team's Paul Ricard shoots:

Does this look familiar? Watch the Force India trailer again.

Here's another:

The original Toyota footage can be seen here. Don't you think that's slightly cheeky?

They've probably paid for the use of the footage, or at least had permission, given Mallya's close links with the two teams. But for a team that is constantly trying to convince us that budget is no problem anymore, would it be that hard to pay for your own track day?