Italian Giancarlo Fisichella handed his Force India Formula One team an astonishing first pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday. The 36-year-old took his first pole since Malaysia 2006, when he was at then-frontrunners Renault, to put a team that has yet to score a point in 29 races at the front of the starting grid.
Promising Frenchman Jules Bianchi will be Force India's reserve driver for this season while retaining his place as a member of Ferrari's young driver academy, the Formula One teams said on Friday.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and German Adrian Sutil will race for Force India again next season, the Formula One team has said. The pair had been confirmed for 2009 in October but a new technical deal between Force India and McLaren Mercedes led to speculation of a change with McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa testing for Force India last month.
Force India conceded fourth place to Williams in the team standings despite Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg securing a doubles points finish in the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday.
There has been speculation within Formula One that Lawrence Stroll, the billionaire father of Canadian driver Lance, is willing to invest in Force India as part of a move for his son from Williams.
Kimi Raikkonen dashed Adrian Sutil's fairytale home race as Force India, for the umpteenth time, came agonisingly close to scoring its first Formula One points before falling to the jinx at the German Grand Prix in Nuerburgring, on Sunday. In a repeat of last year's Monaco Grand Prix, Raikkonen bruised Sutil's VJM02 just when the German, running second, was coming out of the pit and knocked off the front wing to force a pit-stop that dashed Sutil's point hopes.
Sergio Perez gave Sahara Force India its fourth ever podium finish by taking the third spot while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg crossed the line at sixth in a memorable race at the Monaco Grand Prix of the Formula One Championships, in Monaco, on Sunday.
Force India, the first ever Formula One outfit owned by an Indian, will soon unleash a massive multimedia campaign in the country, and owner Vijay Mallya said Shah Rukh Khan was enthused by the idea of associating himself with the team.
Mexican Sergio Perez will race for Force India next season, the British-based Formula One team announced on Thursday.
India's first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan said he was never interested in joining Force India and criticised team co-owner Vijay Mallya for saying no Indian was good enough to drive in F1.
Vijay Mallya-owned Force India named 23-year-old Scot Paul di Resta as its test and reserve driver for the 2010 Formula One World Championship. Di Resta, who outshone his American opponent JR Hildebrand in the young driver test at Jerez in December, was unveiled on Tuesday at the Glasgow headquarters of Force India's principal sponsors Whyte & Mackay.
Force India are hoping Nico Hulkenberg's triumph at the Le Mans 24 Hours race will have a knock-on effect for them at next weekend's Austrian Formula One Grand Prix.
Force India's Sergio Perez refused to rule out a move to Ferrari on Thursday, even though he denied any contact with the Italian Formula One team and said the rumours about his future reflected his form.
Italian police are investigating the theft of a steering wheel from the Force India garages at Monza before last Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, the Formula One team said on Tuesday.
Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor added to the glamour quotient in the Force India garage as the young actors met the team drivers ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.
After a fairytale 2009, Force India owner Vijay Mallya now wants the Formula One outfit to reach the next level this year where regular points and occasional podium finishes would be the order of the day.
Force India will keep the same lineup of Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Germany's Adrian Sutil next season, the Formula One team's owner Vijay Mallya said on Friday. Mallya said he has been talking to Mercedes about the possibility of replacing Ferrari because he wants an engine, gearbox and Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in one package from his supplier for next year.
Force India owner Vijay Mallya has reminded feuding factions inside his Formula One team that, even if he sees no need to bang heads together, he pays the bills and calls the shots.
Running as high as sixth, Adrian Sutil aquaplaned off the circuit with just five laps to go as Force India came tantalisingly close to securing its maiden Formula One points in the rain-lashed Chinese Grand Prix before faltering in the closing stages in Shanghai on Sunday.
Force India gave their new Mercedes-powered Formula One car its debut in Spain on Sunday with team owner Vijay Mallya targeting regular points after a barren 2008.
Doubts about Force India being able to race at Spa, the first Grand Prix since the August break, emerged on Wednesday with reports of legal complications.
Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi will replace compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella at Force India for the remaining five races of the season, the Formula One team said on Monday.
They said creditors would be paid in full and all 405 jobs at the Silverstone-based team, that was co-owned by embattled Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and finished fourth last year, were safe.
India's Karun Chandhok could have a testing role with Force India next year but the country will have to wait for its next Formula One driver, according to team owner Vijay Mallya. Mallya gave a clear indication that 35-year-old Fisichella, a race winner with Renault and now in his 13th season, would continue in 2009.
Sergio Perez expects to have his Formula One future decided before next month's Malaysian Grand Prix and said on Thursday that he is currently weighing up two options.
Sahara Force India claimed a historic fourth place finish, their best ever show, in the Formula One Championships this season after Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished seventh and eighth respectively at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Mexican Sergio Perez will stay at Force India next year for a fourth straight season, the Silverstone-based Formula One team announced after Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Force India collected one of Formula One's stranger sanctions on Sunday when they were given a suspended 25,000-euro ($27,317.50) fine for a breach of the rules concerning driver numbers on their cars.
Sahara Force India are set to finish sixth in the team championship this year after Nico Hulkenberg ended the Brazilian Grand Prix in eighth position while Sergio Perez could not enter the points bracket.
The Indian businessman, who has a 42.5 percent stake, said there was a possibility of main sponsor BWT getting more involved and changing the team's name.
'I don't think I will be driving for Force India," the German told the Autosport web site (www.autosport.com). I want to achieve something and I don't think I can do that with Force India,' he said after a disappointing test drive on Friday.
GP2 driver Karun Chandhok would love to actually race for Force India, rather than warming the test driver's seat for the Vijay Mallya-owned Formula One outfit. And in case he has to settle for a test driver's job, Chandhok says he would love to do that with a top team and claimed he is in touch with some of them.
Force India will take action against their German driver Adrian Sutil only if he is formally charged with assault, the Formula One team's owner Vijay Mallya said on Thursday.
Formula One's first pre-season test ended in Jerez with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fastest.
Force India return to the scene of their greatest race this weekend with scant hopes of repeating last year's Belgian Grand Prix heroics.
Sergio Perez shook off the gear-box change penalty to claim his and Sahara Force India's second podium place of the season with a third-place finish at the European Grand Prix while Nico Hulkenberg took the ninth spot, in Baku, on Sunday.
Venezuelan driver Johnny Cecotto Junior will test for Sahara Force India at the upcoming young driver test in Abu Dhabi next week, completing the team's line-up alongside Max Chilton of England.
Force India's No 1 driver Adrian Sutil discusses his showing in 2009 and targets for the upcoming season.
Adrian Sutil brought Force India back among points after finishing eighth in the action-packed Singapore Grand Prix, the only night race on the Formula One Calender, in Singapore on Sunday.
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Indian Formula One team Sahara Force India will pay tribute to cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar via a hashtag #masterblaster which has been placed on the nose of their racing cars at the upcoming Indian GP.
