Filed under: Car Buying, Motorsports
Force India negotiates deal to buy cars from McLaren
Click for a hi-res gallery of the current Force India VJM01
So far, the Force India team has had a consistent season in Formula One. Unfortunately, that means consistently running at the back. But Indian business mogul Vijay Mallya is committed to making a go of it, and the latest deal in the works could give his team the machinery they need to start moving up the field.
The deal is reportedly all but complete between perennial back-marker Force India and front-runners McLaren for the former to buy their cars – lock, stock and barrel – from the latter. It's a highly tentative deal, however, as Formula One rules are due to be enacted that would ban customer cars. F1 teams are supposed to act as their own constructors, however other teams – such as Red Bull and Toro Rosso, Honda and the defunct Super Aguri – have been using common designs. David Richards' Prodrive outfit was slated to re-enter the series with customer cars from McLaren, but withdrew their tender at the last minute due to the anticipated ban on customer cars. Force India, which currently builds its own chassis and buys engines from Ferrari, evidently thinks the rules won't be enforced. If it is allowed to proceed, the Force India team would turn into an effective B-squad for McLaren.
Gallery: Force India VJM01
[Source: F1-Live]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wslcrew 7:57AM (10/23/2008)
Well, usually I'm against F1 having homogenate engine and chassis like NASCAR and IRL in North America. However, in the past few years, Ecclestone and co. has been pushing for cost cutting measures like single tyre supplier, single electronics supplier and now rumored single engine supplier in 2010. If they are serious with cost cutting in F1, then why don't they allow customer cars to compete?
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Mobius_1 8:02AM (10/23/2008)
Second your opinion, but if they really want to cut costs, just get every driver a "reasonably priced car" :)
matt 8:42AM (10/23/2008)
maybe McLaren can sell them chassis they know are just slightly better than Ferrari but just slightly worse than McLaren, then Lewis can have his own "team orders" :)
at any rate, a new chassis/engine would be the only thing that would give me hope in Force India for next year.
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Kevin 8:51AM (10/23/2008)
If this is true, Force India better be prepared to start getting bogus penalties handed down from Mosley & the FIA...
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inteller 9:03AM (10/23/2008)
A better faster car can't fix the problem behind the wheel.....Sutil is out of his league. Go back to Formula 3.
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Ray 6:18PM (10/25/2008)
I don't know about Sutil going back to F3. He's done a decent job in a crap car. He was nailed from behing in Monaco in wet conditions, not his fault And a great bit of countersteer from Kimi even if he did hit Sutil, and he had a tire let go in Fuji. I think he's done a decent job so far in a slow car. There was a video, or videos, of Sutils onboard at a track and someone like Massa. The difference in how hard Sutil had to just keep the car going as fast as he could and staying on the track versus the smoothness of Massas Ferrari was amazing. The backmarkers are fighting their cars while the guys at the front are fighting each other.
Ray 6:18PM (10/25/2008)
I don't know about Sutil going back to F3. He's done a decent job in a crap car. He was nailed from behing in Monaco in wet conditions, not his fault And a great bit of countersteer from Kimi even if he did hit Sutil, and he had a tire let go in Fuji. I think he's done a decent job so far in a slow car. There was a video, or videos, of Sutils onboard at a track and someone like Massa. The difference in how hard Sutil had to just keep the car going as fast as he could and staying on the track versus the smoothness of Massas Ferrari was amazing. The backmarkers are fighting their cars while the guys at the front are fighting each other.
narutouzumaki16 9:10AM (10/23/2008)
wow VJM looks like vijay mallya has let fame go to his head
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matt 9:18AM (10/23/2008)
vijay mallya has let money go to his head
^^ fixed
Ssco 9:11AM (10/23/2008)
Hang on a minute. Don't Ferarri supply their engines? This could end up being the best car on the track!!
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Amien 8:22PM (10/23/2008)
Nice to have someone well informed here.
+1
pmiddle5 8:19PM (10/23/2008)
So do they mean a full car or just the monocoque or something? I see no reason for that to be illegal but most of it blah
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Roslan 9:20AM (10/26/2008)
The best that could happen to force india .
http://www.roslan-racing.com
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