Force India · History

Based at Silverstone in the United Kingdom, Force India entered Formula One in 2008 and raced in the World Championship until 2018. The team was built on the operation that had previously run as Jordan, Midland and Spyker, and between 2012 and 2018 it competed under the official name Sahara Force India F1 Team. Across eleven seasons it was a mid-budget outfit fighting in the midfield, took podiums with several drivers and twice finished fourth in the constructors’ championship.

Origins: from Spyker to Force India

In October 2007 Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutchman Michiel Mol bought the Spyker team. The factory was the same one Eddie Jordan had set up beside the Silverstone circuit in the early 1990s, which had since changed owners and names in quick succession. After the takeover the team was renamed Force India and raced under an Indian licence, the first from that country in the Formula One World Championship.

Early years with Ferrari and Mercedes

The debut season, 2008, was run with Ferrari engines and with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil as drivers. The car rarely ran away from the back of the field and the team ended the year without a point. For 2009 Force India switched to Mercedes power and a technical partnership with McLaren. The breakthrough came at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix: Fisichella took pole position at Spa-Francorchamps and finished second behind Kimi Räikkönen, scoring the team’s first points and first podium. Vitantonio Liuzzi later took Fisichella’s seat when the Italian left for Ferrari.

The Sahara years

In October 2011 the Indian Sahara group bought into the team, and from 2012 it raced as Sahara Force India. Paul di Resta, who had made his debut with the team in 2011, partnered Nico Hülkenberg in 2012; Sutil returned alongside the Scot in 2013. In those seasons the team settled into the middle of the order, scoring points regularly but without returning to the podium.

Pérez, Hülkenberg and the podiums

Mexican driver Sergio Pérez arrived in 2014 and partnered Hülkenberg until 2016. Pérez put the team back on the rostrum at the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix, where he finished third. He was third again in Russia in 2015 and added two more podiums in 2016, at Monaco and in Baku. That consistency carried Force India to fourth in the 2016 constructors’ championship, its best finish up to that point, ahead of teams with far larger budgets.

The pink era

In 2017 sponsorship from Austrian company BWT turned the cars pink. Esteban Ocon replaced Hülkenberg and raced alongside Pérez for two seasons. The team again finished fourth in the 2017 constructors’ standings, although the rivalry between its drivers produced several collisions between team-mates, including at that year’s Belgian Grand Prix. In 2018 Pérez finished third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the team’s last podium.

Administration and sale

Its owners’ financial troubles pushed Force India into administration in July 2018, in the middle of the season. In August 2018 a consortium of investors led by Lawrence Stroll bought the team’s assets. To keep its place on the grid, the operation was entered as a new team under the name Racing Point Force India from the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, forfeiting the constructors’ points scored in the first twelve races of that year. At the end of the 2018 season the Force India name left Formula One, and the Silverstone team raced as Racing Point in 2019.