Force India confirms Tonio Liuzzi for Fisichella's seat originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

REPORT: Giancarlo Fisichella, meet your new Ferrari race seat originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ferrari to sign Fisichella to replace Badoer? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: 2009 Monaco Grand Prix

Continue reading Spoiler Alert: 2009 Monaco Grand Prix recap

Spoiler Alert: 2009 Monaco Grand Prix recap originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 26 May 2009 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: 2009 Force India VJM02

Force India joins the grid with 2009 VJM02 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ecclestone "requests" USF1 name change, US Grand Prix Engineering born originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ferrari's 056 V8 was good enough to propel the Scuderia to the constructors' title this past season, and good enough to bring erstwhile back-markers Toro Rosso to a solid 6th place by season's end. But it wasn't enough to take Force India F1 - the latest incarnation of Jordan Grand Prix - out from the back of the field all season. Notwithstanding the unfortunate incident that saw Ferrari's own Kimi Raikkonen take Force India's Adrian Sutil out from 4th place at the Monaco Grand Prix with only ten minutes to go, Force India didn't manage a top 10 finish all season, earning a grand total of 0 championship points. So rather than stick with Ferrari, Vijay Mallya - the team's owner, chairman, director and main sponsor - has canceled the remaining year left in his contract with Ferrari and defected to McLaren-Mercedes instead.

The new deal, which was widely anticipated, will see Force India using engines, transmissions, hydraulics, Kinetic Energy Recovery System and a variety of other parts from McLaren Applied Technologies and Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines. The collaboration means McLaren-Mercedes will provide pretty much everything but the chassis, which Force India will have to design itself using its new computational fluid dynamics facility.

This new deal with McLaren tips the balance: whereas Ferrari was supplying an unprecedented two teams with engines this past season and McLaren none, in the coming season each will supply another team, while Toyota continues to supply Williams and Renault to Red Bull, leaving Honda (since the demise of Super Aguri) and BMW as the only engine suppliers not supporting b-squads.

[Source: Force India Formula One Team, Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty]

Continue reading Officially official: Force India ditches Ferrari for McLaren

Officially official: Force India ditches Ferrari for McLaren originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]

Force India negotiates deal to buy cars from McLaren originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jordan founded the team under his own name in 1991 and sold it to Midland in 2005, which in turn sold it to Spyker in 2006, who then sold the team to Force at the end of last season. Yet despite having been promoted at times as Russia's team, Holland's team and now as India's team, the actual headquarters has never moved from its location at the Silverstone race track in England. When Eddie Jordan sold off the team, he held on to some of the surrounding land through which the main access road leads. Jordan, who would now like to sell the land to the team but is claiming that Force India's management has refused to even discuss the matter, took things into his own hands recently and closed off the driveway. Just watch, they'll discover that the cinder-blocks he used were probably stolen from McLaren.

[Source: Autosport, Photo by Clive Mason/Getty]

Eddie Jordan barricades entrance to Force India F1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Super Aguri undergoing testing at Jerez

Well that didn't take long. After only two years on the grid, Super Aguri is up for sale. Unlike most of the other "new" teams that took over and rebranded themselves from previous teams, Super Aguri actually put up the bond to join the 2006 Formula One championship as an additional entry. Since then, however, the team has had difficulty putting together the enormous budget required of a modern F1 team, falling into debt to the tune of $47 million, despite getting support from Honda and running old cars.

Now, following the emergence of Force India and the confirmation of an Indian Grand Prix in two years, another Indian business consortium is looking at buying its way into the sport. The Spice Group telecommunications company, which already sponsors Indian former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan's Team India A1GP car, is reported to be negotiating to acquire Super Aguri. Tata, which is inching closer to its acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar (which itself once had its own F1 team), is reported to be possibly supporting the bid. The price: $1, plus the coverage of the team's debts. The deal hasn't been finalized, but would involve bringing Karthikeyan back to the grid, and leaving Aguri Suzuki in charge. Spice confirms that it is talking with Aguri and a second team. In related news, Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has reiterated that Scuderia Toro Rosso is not for sale.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty]

REPORT: Super Aguri on sale for $1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the majority of F1 teams gearing up to unveil their new cars, all but two have confirmed their drivers for the upcoming season. The only seats still up for grabs are with Force India and Super Aguri, and while the former was expected to confirm its drivers before the end of the year, that date has now been pushed off until January 11.

Adrian Sutil is all but completely confirmed to take one of the seats at the team formerly known as Spyker and before that as Jordan since its founding in 1991. But a number of drivers remain hopeful to take the second seat, including Renault refugee Giancarlo Fisichella, former Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, former Jaguar/Red Bull/Honda pilot Christian Klien and Roldán Rodríguez, currently slated as Force India's test driver. Veteran racer Ralf Schumacher, as we previously reported, tested for the seat, but previous reports that the German driver would have to sit out the 2008 season have now been confirmed.

Once Force India confirms its drivers in two weeks, only Super Aguri, recently confirmed by Honda for another season, will be left to announce its roster. Takuma Sato is expected to take one seat and the second remains a wild card likely to be contested by whoever doesn't get the second Force India seat.

Follow the jump to view the confirmed drivers for the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty]

Continue reading Force India delays driver announcement until January 11

Force India delays driver announcement until January 11 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.