Force India are regarded as one of the most efficient teams when it comes to utilising their budget to make a solid, consistent point scoring car as they so often outshine bigger budgeted teams. The team began life in 2008 after the Spyker team left F1 after just one year and predictability struggled . The 2009 regulation changes saw the teams fortunes increase however and since then the team have had a steady climb up the constructors table. Recently they have fallen on some financial troubles but with Lawrence Stroll buying the team they look set for more years fighting strongly in the mid-pack and continuing their run of being consistent points scorers.
In this piece I aim to briefly look at each of Force India’s years from their beginning to the current 2018 season so far. I will give a general consensus of the year, the teams drivers and their points tally, the teams best result of the year and I will present a graph showing their constructors tally over a season.
2008:
The 2008 season was always going to be a difficult one for Force India as it was a transition year from Spyker the year prior, with the VJM01 being an evolution of the 2007 Spyker car. Their driver line-up was a smart one though with Sutil kept from the Spyker team prior alongside Fisichella who was a 3x race winner and had bags of experience. The team didn’t manage to score any points with their best result being 10th for Sutil at the forth round in Spain, the teams hopes pinned on the 2009 rule changes. Sutil was running in 4th at Monaco until Raikkonen lost control under braking and hit the back of the Force India ending their race
- Drivers Points: Sutil (0), Fisichella (0)
- Teams Points: 0
- Constructors Position: 10th
2009:
The new aero regulations gave Force India a clean slate to work on and it did help them become more competitive. At the Belgium Grand Prix Fisichella achieved the teams first, and only, pole position and followed it up with a 2nd place in the race which is the teams best result so far. Sutil also took fastest lap on his way to 5th in Italy. The team kept the same driver line-up as the year prior but replaced Fisichella from Italy onwards with Luizzi as Fisichella had gone to Ferrari to stand-in for the injured Massa.
- Drivers Points: Fisichella (8), Sutil (5), Luizzi (0)
- Teams Points: 13
- Constructors Position: 9th
2010:
The 2010 season saw Force India’s 2nd biggest leap in the points as they became a staple of the mid-field, challenging the likes of Williams and Sauber. The driver line-up of Sutil and Luizzi featured in the top 10 readily and entered the top 6 on 4 occasions which given their 2009 campaign is respectable. The teams best result of the season being a 5th place at the Belgium GP thanks to Sutil.
- Drivers Points: Sutil (47), Luizzi (21)
- Teams Points: 68
- Constructors Position: 7th
2011:
2011 was a year of stability rather than growth for Force India, their best result being a couple of 6th places. Di Resta joined Sutil at the team and had an impressive if not stable rookie year scoring a point on his debut.
- Drivers Points: Sutil (42), Di Resta (27)
- Teams Points: 69
- Constructors Position: 6th
2012:
For the forth year in a row the team had a different driver line-up with Hulkenburg joining Di Resta. This year saw a couple of standout drives the most vivid being Brazil where, had he not spun and hit Hamilton, Hulkenburg could’ve taken victory. Hulkenburg took 4th at Spa whilst Di Resta took 4th at Singapore, these being the best results.
- Drivers Points: Di Resta (46), Hulkenburg (63)
- Teams Points: 109
- Constructors Position: 7th
2013:
Although slipping back in terms of points the team regained 6th place in the standings challenging McLaren for most of the season for 5th. Di Resta and Sutil were team-mates again with Di Resta winning out overall. The teams start of the year was much stronger than their end (Di Resta only scored 10 points in the final 11 races). Clearly development was being put towards 2014 and the change in regulations.
- Drivers Points: Di Resta (46), Sutil (29)
- Teams Points: 77
- Constructors Position: 6th
2014:
The new V6 era of F1 saw the team experience their best season so far mainly due to them running the dominant Mercedes V6 Hybrid engine. Perez and Hulkenburg gave the team a fast and consistent driver line-up, able to exploit different race situations as a 3rd and 5th at Bahrain showed. The team only failed to score at 2 races. *without double points at the final race in Abu Dhabi the team would’ve finished with 141 points*
- Drivers Points: Perez (59), Hulkenburg (96)
- Teams Points: 155
- Constructors Position: 6th
2015:
The continuation of the driver line-up of Perez and Hulkenburg gave Force India another impressive year helped by the failing McLaren-Honda partnership. Perez picking up a podium in Russia and Hulkenburg getting a best result of 6th showed that Force India were becoming more capable of capitalising on the top three teams hitting misfortune.
- Drivers Points: Perez (78), Hulkenburg (58)
- Teams Points: 136
- Constructors Position: 5th
2016:
With victory over Williams in a season-long duel Force India finished in their highest position ever. For three years running Perez achieved a podium with Hulkenburg getting a best result of 4th. Perez becoming the first Force India to surpass 100 points.
- Drivers Points: Perez (101), Hulkenburg (72)
- Teams Points: 173
- Constructors Position: 4th
2017:
New aero regulations made people question whether Force India could hold onto 4th and the ‘best of the rest’ title that came with it. As it turned out they could and they went on to have their best season to date. Tensions between Perez and new team-mate Ocon threatened to derail the season but the team remained stable and managed to score points in all but one race.
- Drivers Points: Perez (100), Ocon (87)
- Teams Points: 187
- Constructors Positions: 4th
2018:
Due to a much closer mid-field battle in recent years thanks to improved Renault, Haas and McLaren packages, Force India have found it harder to maintain their ‘best of the rest’ status. Financial troubles threatened the teams existence as a whole but with a new buyer in Lawrence Stroll the team will be around for more years. Despite these hardships Perez was able to pick up a 3rd podium in 4 years in Baku. Ocon has also impressed.
- *Drivers Points: Perez (30), Ocon (29)
- *Teams Points: 59
- *Constructors Standings: 7th
- *= season still in progress
The Future:
The future of Force India is one that’s difficult to accurately predict, mainly due to the 2021 rule changes. The rules so far seem to favour the factory teams and thus it could be expected that the team could face a slump but we’re yet to experience the effects of the financial boost given to them over the summer break and of course the teams great ability to maximise the resources at their disposal. I do believe Force India can hold a strong place in the mid-field but will find it harder to do so with the surges in performance from McLaren and Renault expected in the coming years. One thing is clear however and that is that Force India are a great asset to the sport. They show that the right team structure and the right people can garner results beyond the depths of their pockets and they give young drivers a place to build up experience and develop overall just like we are seeing with Ocon. We all look forward to see what they’ll be able to achieve in the future.
*All results tables and graphs are my own work