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Ferrari F1
engines powered the new 'Force India' F1 team for the
first time at this week's testing in Barcelona, the new
outfit, having been born out of Spyker, has a customer
engine contract with the Maranello concern until 2010.
However Force India has inherited Spyker's Ferrari
engine contract and for the Spanish test this week the
F8-VII cars were hastily painted in a new colour scheme.
The Force
India team can trace its roots back to 1991 when
Irishman Eddie Jordan set up his eponymous F1 team.
Despite grand prix wins by the time Jordan sold the team
in 2005 it had drifted back to the tail end of the team.
Renamed Midland F1 it swiftly moved to the back of the
grid in 2006 and later that year it was sold onto Dutch
sportscar manufacturer Spyker, who rebranded the team
once more. However, despite recruiting well regarded
designer Mike Gascoyne, running an F1 team was too much
for the resources of the Spyker firm and it was recently
sold to Indian billionaire Dr. Vijay Mallya, the
Chairman and CEO of The United Breweries Group. The
highly regarded Adrian Sutil, who scored a world
championship point this season under the Spyker brand
name, has been retained to lead the team next year.
The new team
made its track debut this week at the Circuit de
Catalunya in Barcelona, joining all the other F1 teams
for the first official test since the season wraped up
in Brazil. Former Red Bull team mates Christian Klien
and Vitantonio Liuzzi were set to drive the team as the
former Spyker team pondered their 2008 drive line-up.
The duo would be in action at the Spanish track
alongside the squad’s contracted testers Roldan
Rodriguez and Giedo van der Garde, and race driver
Adrian Sutil.
Force India were running two of the Ferrari-powered
former Spyker F8-VII chassis during the three-day test,
and both cars were be painted with a distinctive interim
burgundy red and white livery. Rodriguez and Van der
Garde would split driving duties for the opening day
before Sutil, Liuzzi and Klien take over, dividing their
time in the cars over the remaining two days. Klien and
Liuzzi are both looking for 2008 race seats. Liuzzi
raced for Toro Rosso this season but has been replaced
by Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, while Klien,
who spent 2007 as Honda’s test and reserve driver, is
looking to make a return to competitive racing next
year.
On the
opening day of the team (Tuesday) the Force India
drivers brought up the tail of the times: Van der Garde
was 18th and Rodriguez, 19th. The duo took charge of two
F8-VII cars fitted with the 2008 standard electronics
package and completed over 80 laps each.
The second
day (Wednesday) saw a new batch of drivers out in the
Force India cars. Confirmed race driver Adrian Sutil,
20th, was joined by former Honda tester Christian Klien,
19th, and ex-Toro Rosso racer Vitantonio Liuzzi, 21st.
All three finished within two-tenths of a second of each
other. While Sutil had full use of a re-liveried Spyker
F8-VII all day, Liuzzi and Klien traded places in the
other, with the Austrian handing the car over to the
Italian after lunch.
“Generally a very productive day of testing,” said chief
technical officer Mike Gascoyne on Wednesday. “Our major
test item on both cars was the standard ECU
configuration. We had no major problems and were work
through to get through the unsolved issues, with both
cars completing over 100 laps each. It was also a chance
to test Christian and Tonio, who had their first runs in
the car to make themselves comfortable. We will continue
our programme tomorrow with them driving a car each for
the whole day.”
The third
and final day of testing on Thursday saw the team
improving its position in the timesheets. Klien enjoyed
an impressive day ending the day in 15th. He was joined
by Liuzzi, who finished in 17th. “Once again a
productive day to conclude a positive week of testing
for us,” said Gascoyne. “Both Christian and Tonio did a
very good job for us, with interesting and informative
feedback on the electronics and general set-up of the
car. We had no real mechanical problems throughout the
day and in general this week, with testing new items and
drivers, has had a very positive effect on the team.”
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