Force India – Not A Bit Player Anymore

Force India is probably the most improved team among the racing teams competing for the 2010 season. Last 2009, the pride of the Indian nation were able to register their first points through the efforts of Giancarlo Fisichella who displayed class-A racing in Belgium to notch second place. Inspired by his Italian teammate, Adrian Sutil of Germany followed up with world championship points of his own by placing 4th in the succeeding race at Monza. There would have been more instances when this Indian outfit should have earned more points had not Kimi Raikonnen crashed, accidentally of course, Adrian Sutil’s car during the German Grand Prix in the pit lanes and also in China when Sutil slid off from the racetracks with six laps to go due to extreme rain. The points earned by the team took them out of the bottom place for a change last year as they finished ahead of the Torro Rossos.

Adrian Sutil, tasting a his first points last year could only be hungry for more. No one has thought he would be earning points last year but he did. What was remarkable about this German driver’s breakthrough performance last year was he had multiple chances of earning points and so the actual point he gained was not out of pure luck but rather a real result of intense concentration on the race.

Vitantino Liuzzi, the replacement of Giancarlo Fisichella last year, will be continuing on as the second driver for Force India for the 2010 season. Liuzzi is no stranger to the grid as he had been a driver for Red Bull and Toro Rosso dating back as far as 2005. Liuzzi was responsible for Toro Rosso’s first points ever back in 2005.

The owner of the team, the Indian billionaire, Vijay Mallya is not in the sport just so he can brag here and there that he owns an F1 team but is really committed in coming up with a competitive car. Last year was not a coincidental win but was a product of careful planning as the team is on a constant lookout on how to keep improving the car. Currently, the team has just concluded test runs in Barcelona and the result are as what they expected. Both in Barcelona and Jerez testing results concur that indeed the improvements are there as both Liuzzi and Sutil were able to register fourth place standings in Jerez and Barcelona respectively.

Force India, though deemed not a major contender for this year but the improvements they could make may be pivotal for the overall winner for the coming season. 2010 is touted to be a battle royal with almost all established teams have been preparing for this season as far back as 2009 with new teams and returning teams like Mercedes GP and Lotus F1 also joining the fray. Indeed, if Force India can manage to earn points like they did last year or more, they’ll be eating up precious points for those teams who would be coming close to a margin of 10 points or so especially in the latter stages of the season.