Force India

History

The team's origins stemmed from the Jordan Grand Prix team, which entered Formula One racing based at the Silverstone circuit. Jordan enjoyed many years in Formula One, winning four races and achieving third place in the Constructors' Championship. Financial problems led team owner Eddie Jordan to sell the team to the Midland Group in early 2005. The Midland owned team renamed Midland F1 Racing in 2006 spent two seasons at the back of the grid, before owner Alex Shnaider sold the team to Spyker Cars midway through the season.

Spyker F1 scored a point in 2007 and briefly led the race; despite this, the team once again hit financing issues, and was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol. The team, bought for €88 million, was renamed as the Force India Formula One Team for the 2008 season, retaining team principal Colin Kolles, Chief Technology Officer Mike Gascoyne, and drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella. After retaining Adrian Sutil, Force India chose Giancarlo Fisichella for the race seat and Vitantonio Liuzzi as reserve driver; they drove an updated version of the Spyker F8-VIIB chassis with Ferrari engines, christened the Force India VJM01.

Testing began in February after the gold, tungsten and white liveried car was launched at the Gateway of India in Mumbai. With an increased budget and wind tunnels from EADS, the team aimed to beat Super Aguri.

Sponsorship and partners

The team's initial primary sponsor was Kingfisher, a brand owned by Vijay Mallya. For the 2008 season, other backers included ICICI Bank, Medion, Kanyan Capital, Reebok, and Reliance Industries Limited. Most of these, except ICICI Bank and Kanyan Capital, stayed on for 2009, joined by new partners AVG, Airbus, and Whyte & Mackay. In December 2009, Computational Research Laboratories, a Tata Sons subsidiary, signed a three-year, multimillion-dollar deal to supply a fully automated Computational Fluid Dynamics system for car design.

Force India also secured technological support from Airbus and EADS, and maintained a technical partnership with McLaren. In October 2011, Sahara India Pariwar bought a 42.5% stake for $100 million, prompting a rename to Sahara Force India; Mallya kept his 42.5%, and the Mol family held the remaining 15%. Brazilian auto parts maker Aethra became an official partner in 2012. The sponsor list grew to include former backer Kingfisher Airlines, Whyte and Mackay, United Breweries Group, Vladivar Vodka, AVG Technologies, Alpinestars, Reebok, Schroth Racing, Muc-Off, Hackett, Chatham-Marine, UPS Direct, STILL, and STL.

Smirnoff partnered with the team in May 2014, followed by Univa in June 2014. For the 2015 season, Force India announced a deal with NEC Corporation’s Mexican division. In 2014, the team supported Hilmer Motorsport in GP2 and GP3, and in 2015 it partnered with Adaptavist. Since 2011, Force India has backed teenager Jehan Daruvala after he won the team’s ‘One in a Billion’ competition.

Hype Energy Drinks became a sponsor from 2015; its CEO, former Formula 1 driver Bertrand Gachot, raced for predecessor team Jordan in 1991. Hype Energy branding appeared on the rear wing and side pods at races where alcohol ads were banned, and the company supplied drivers with personal drinks bottles for races.