Malyia trying to Force Lotuses hand?

Thought the intra-team squabbling was over now that the F1 season’s finished? Nope, as I believe that Formula 1 never sleeps, eh? As word comes now that Force India has gone on the offensive against the newly reconstituted Lotus F1 Team, claiming they appear to be using Wind Tunnel models extremely similar to the Force India designed chassis…

Hang on a moment here; let’s see. Force India sacked its Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne who designed the original VJM-01 chassis amongst other iterations of the team’s guises from Jordan to Midland F1 to Spyker and ultimately Force India…

Then Gascoyne filed a lawsuit against Vijay Malia claiming breach of contract for lost potential salary, having been fired before his contract expired in 2007.

Next Gascoyne set up his own Design Office (MGI) and went to work on what was to be the Lightspeed F1 project for 2010, which wasn’t selected by the FIA. And now Gascoyne has gone to work for the new Lotus concern which showed off an initial 2010 F1 Chassis for publicity, which in Formula One tradition, obviously wasn’t the final evolution as car design is a most highly guarded secret kept by all teams as long as possible; something akin to Mum’s ‘N first born children!

Yet the Lotus Team has taken up a collaboration with the AeroLab research facility which ironically was partnering Force India previously, which like prior speculation suggested over Malyia’s tendency to pay off his bills late to engine suppliers Ferrari and Mercedes Benz, has an outstanding balance owed to AeroLab which has now filed a lawsuit against Force India along with issuing a rare press statement over the Wind Tunnel model controversy, as it appears that perhaps Force India is using the issue to deflect attention?

In another Force India lawsuit, the Indian owned team won $4.6m in damages from Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties as compensation for bailing out early of their Sponsorship contracts with the Spyker F1 Team, upon its being sold to Vijay Malyia and rebadged Force India; opting to go with a rival Constructor known as the Scuderia, which obviously has a much higher potential for coveted television exposure since its usually farther up the grid then Malyia’s Boyz, albeit Force India has steadily improved this season, securing its very first Pole position and Grand Prix Constructor’s points.

But as I read somewhere, possibly from Mike Gascoyne(??) Why would the Lotus Team wanna copy the Force India which isn’t exactly known for its great handling prowess along with the fact that next year’s enlarged Petrol tanks will not only change the cars design but also change the all important weight distribution of said racecar.

Q & A with Mike Gascoyne

But hey, that’s Formula 1 for you, as they’re even more competitive in terms of litigation off the track as not only is every ounce of weight scrutinized, every available Euro is also fought over!

Vitantonio returns

As expected, Force India has announced that the team’s Test/Reserve Driver Vitantonio Luzzi will take over the recently vacated racing seat of Giancarlo Fisichella, who as we all know, has transferred to Scuderia Ferrari to fill-in as Felipe Massa’s stand-in for the remainder of the year after Luca Badoer’s less than impressive outings.

Thus, another Italian will get to race in front of his home crowd, as Luzzi, a la “Fishy-Fellah” will drive the remaining five races of the season for Force India, while Giancarlo caps off his career at the Prancing Horse…

Fisichella to Ferrari

As expected, Scuderia Ferrari has publicly announced that “Fishy-Fellah,” a.k.a. Giancarlo Fisichella has been inked to a contract to stand in for the injured Felipe Massa for the remainder of the 2009 season after being let go from Force India, who will most likely promote Test/Reserve Driver Vitantonnio Luzzi as Fisi’s replacement.

Thus it appears that third place in the Constructor’s Championship is indeed important to Ferrari as it’ll be imperative for Maranello to have both of its red cars in the points in order to hold off McLaren…

Force India VJM02

(Photo source: Grandprix.com)
With less than one month to go prior to Melbourne, we’re now left with only two launches remaining, as the first incarnation of Force India’s 2009 challenger, the VJM02 broke cover and made its maiden debut at Silverstone, for shakedown testing on February 25th prior to this week’s testing at the overly damp Jerez circuit, with seven rival teams on hand.

The VJM02 is what can only be seen as a customer derivative of the McLaren team’s chassis, as they’re providing Mr. Malia’s squad with engine, drivetrain and KERS, along with Force India now being overseen by new Chief Operating Officer Simon Roberts, Whom was previously employed by McLaren.

Yet, recall that this practice has occurred before with Sauber and their past Ferrari links, not to mention the current Red Bull – Toro Rosso collaboration...

The VJM02 will run in a mix of Indian colours, predominantly orange, green and white and one of F1’s elder statesmen, Giancarlo Fisichella said he was pleasantly surprised with the chassis after 50 trouble free laps in his first outing in the new race car. Hmm? Does this imply that the VJM01 was a “Dog” of a racecar last season?

For a fairly descriptive interview regarding the technical changes to the Force India VJM02, see: Technical Notes

Force India dumps Ferrari

Having just completed their debut season, Force India was the only Ferrari powered F1 team not scoring a single point this season and thus, Team owner Dr. Vijay Malia has decided to seek a new direction for Force India’s sophomore season, as I’m sure you’ve already heard that the squad will be powered by Mercedes Benz next year.

The 5yr deal is not only for the 2.4 liter V-8 lump, but also includes the rest of the drive train, i.e.; gearbox/transmission and hydraulics, along with the “optional” KERS system, as this is not a typical customer arrangement.

Actually, Malia’s team will take on the role of a pseudo McLaren “B” Team, *regardless of McLaren’s Martin whitmarsh’s comments) as they’ve formed an alliance that includes access to the Woking based squads network of suppliers.

Simon Roberts, former Racing Operations Director of McLaren, has just been appointed as the teams new CEO, with further management shake up including the dismissal of current Team manager Collin Kolles and Chief Designer Mike Gascoyne.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo Fisichella is vehemently claiming he’s got an iron-clad contract to drive next season alongside Adrian Sutil, but we all know there’s NO such thing as an iron-clad contract in Formula 1, so perhaps we’ll see DTM protégé Paul di Resta taking over in the future?

Last of the Mohegan’s

You know how they say; Better late then NEVER, eh? Thus I found this a bit humourous as I was unaware that proverbial “Tail Gunner Charlie’s” Force India had been running the entire season without the much vaunted seamless shift transmission that all of its brethren were.

And thus, Force India will race its “New for ‘08” seamless shift crashbox at this weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia, as the team has so far to date only ran the newest piece of hardware in testing at Jerez and during Friday practice at the Hunga-boring race, with Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne claiming the new box is worth 0.2-0.3 second per lap...

I guess this is what happens when you’re the last true “Privateer” on the grid in F1, eh? As the team claims that it will now focus entirely upon its 2009 challenger development wise... As, uhm? There’s only six races remaining on the calendar and the ’09 regulations will see a dramatic shift in regards to aerodynamics. Not to mention the return to slick tyres and the possible advent of the controversial KERS system.

Well, so much for the massive leap up the time sheets, as Adrian Sutil was 17th in Friday’s second practice, albeit ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Sebastian Bourdais and Rubens Barrichello, while team leader Giancarlo “Fishy-fella: Fisichella wound up P10...

Joining the 200 Club

While Rubens Barrichello basks in the glow of perceivably having broken the all time Formula 1 career starts record held by Ricardo Patrese: 256 (1977-93) Another driver is set to join the very exclusive club of drivers to have made 200 Grand Prix starts, as Giancarlo Fisichella will add his name to the growing list this weekend in Monaco.

“Fishy-fella” will honour the accomplishment by donning a special set of overalls and special liveried “200”logo helmet, as the 35-year-old Roman said in a recent statement;

“I still feel young, I still feel happy to work in F1, to be an F1 driver."

"The only problem is traveling around the world all the time! But apart from that, I still enjoy F1. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't," Fisichella added.

Here’s a quickly compiled listing of the various drivers to accomplish the rare feat of showing up for 200 Grand Prix’s…

200 Grand Prix Starts Club
Driver Races Starts Active Years
1. Ricardo Patrese; 257, 256, 1977-93
2. Michael Schumacher; 250, 249, 1991-2006
3. Michel Alboreto; 215, 194, 1981-94
4. Andrea de Cesaris; 214, 208, 1980-94
5. Gerhard Berger; 210, 210, 1984-97
6. Nelson Piquet; 207, 204, 1978-91
7. Jean Alesi; 202, 201, 1989-2001
8. Alain Prost; 202, 199, 1980-91, 1993


Active Drivers
Driver Starts Year Debut GP
1. Rubens Barrichello; 256, 1993; South African GP
2. David coulthard; 234, 1994; Spanish GP
3. Giancarlo Fisichella; 200, 1996; Australian GP
4. Jarno Trulli; 187, 199;7 Australian GP
5. Jenson Button; 141, 2000; Australian GP
6. Nick Heidfeld; 138, 2000; Australian GP

Force India VJM01

Talk about making a statement by having a Formula 1 chassis named after yourself, which is exactly what Indian billionaire tycoon Vijay Mallya has done upon launching the newly christened 2008 Force India challenger. But hey, when you’re putting up a budget of $120 million, I suppose you can name your car whatever you feel like, eh?

The car is a heavily revised Spyker F8VII chassis that Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyn and his staff have brought up to 2008 regulations. The VJM01 debuted its new team livery during its glitzy launch, which was held on February 6th in Mumbai, India…

May the Force be with you

For those of you potentially pondering why there are so few stories currently in the Force India F1 category of the F1 Team Links section, this is due to the fact that the team was sold and re-branded at the end of the 2007 season.

Of course the team has gone thru a litany of owners the past few seasons since being sold by Eddie Jordan. EJ sold Jordan Grand Prix in the winter of 2004 to Alex Shnaider.

The team continued under the Jordan Grand Prix banner for one final season in 2005, becoming the (Midland) MF1 Racing team in 2006, before being re-sold at the end of 2006 and becoming known as Spyker F1. Yet with the help of some creative accounting exploits by the Spyker car concern, the team was once again sold off to Indian Tycoon Vijay Malia and the Dutch Mol family. Hopefully the team will now stabilize for the foreseeable future with the advent of the upcoming inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

To read further stories about Force India, see: Spyker Sold and then click on the Spyker F1 label at the bottom of the post.

The (NOT SO) Magnificent Seven

Prior to the just completed Holidazes… Force India, one of the two remaining Formula 1 teams to finalize their 2008 Driver line-ups was holding a shoot-out in Jerez, Spain.

Taking part in this Jack Roush “Gong Show” style runoff were a cadre of F1 pilots currently out of work: Giancarlo Fisichella, Christian Klien, Viantonnio Luzzi, Frank Montagny and Ralf Schumacher. This quintuplet of ex-Formula 1 racers were joined by the team’s test drivers Roldan Rodriguez and Giedo van der Garde during a four day test.

Previous speculation suggested that the two drivers fighting for the second seat were “Fishy-Fella” and Luzzi, with Italian newspapers suggesting that Fisichella had been given the nod. Yet, it would seem wiser to take the younger and hence hungrier Luzzi, as Fishy-Fella is a bit long in the tooth by F1 standards…

India Forcing its way into F1

Not surprisingly the World Motor Sport Council has approved Spyker F1’s name change to Force India F1 for the 2008 season. Thus allowing Indian co-owner Vijay Mallya to capitalize upon future marketing opportunities.

Its worth noting that Mallya is the head of India’s two Grand Prix organizations which the FIA has forced to merge together by the end of this December in order to hopefully smooth the way towards seeing the scheduled 2009 Indian GP take place.

Mallya has installed a former United Breweries executive at Spyker to monitor the teams finances with T.V. Lakshmi Kanthan being appointed after spending 23 years with UB, while currently serving as UB’s British Finance Director.

And surprisingly Toyota’s Jarno Trulli is expected to be one of the four drivers testing in November for Force India’s second seat. This despite Trulli reportedly having inked a further one year contract with Toyota, while his more expensive teammate Ralfanso (R. Schumacher) seems to have the inside track to the seat while Sakon Yamamoto and Vitantonnio Luzzi will also take part in the shoot out…

Spyker scores first point

As the various members of the International BAR Association (Nee, Lawyers; or as Marc of FT fondly refer’s to them as Shyster’s) stay increasingly busy shuffling between multiple cases being heard by the FIA Appeals courts, another has failed.

With Scuderia Toro Rosso’s appeal of Vitantonnio Luzzi’s 25 second penalty for passing Adrian Sutil under a yellow flag in the Japanese GP being dismissed. With the court in question rejecting STR’s argument, thus Sutil’s single point for 8th place stands. This means that Spyker F1 has broken its Duc and now all eleven Constructors’ have garnered World Championship points this season.