Force India achieved its best start of the season on Saturday when Giancarlo Fisichella booked the 13th slot on the grid for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, two positions ahead of his German teammate Adrian Sutil. It was dream come true for the Silverstone-based outfit as both the cars gate crashed into the second qualifying session (Q2), something they had not achieved thus far.
Primed for his first race in a Force India car, Vitantonio Liuzzi said the track at Monza for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix would be a difficult test for all the drivers and the key would be to get the exits right from the difficult corners.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa had successful plastic surgery on his fractured skull at a Sao Paulo hospital on Monday, the Italian team said on their website (www.ferrari.com).
Giancarlo Fisichella, who just became a 'former' Force India driver, had quite a busy first day at Ferrari, his new employer.
Monza next time out should be very good for them as the team do seem to have fantastic straight-line speed and Singapore after that should be reasonably good as well, as the team have always been competitive on street circuits, says Karun Chandhok.
Force India's second qualifying goal didn't materialise but lady luck smiled on them and Giancarlo Fisichella will start 15th while his teammate Adrian Sutil 16th after the Toyota cars were pushed to the back of the grid for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix for breaking technical rules.
A huge monkey off Force India's back, team chairman Vijay Mallya said the Formula One outfit has actually delivered on its promise of a podium finish one year before the 2010 deadline it had set.
A fuel system failure and an accident marred Force India's final day of pre-German Grand Prix testing, curtailing Giancarlo Fisichella's stint to 74 laps at the Hockenheimring. Fisichella worked on aero development, tyre comparisons besides establishing a set-up for next week's German Grand Prix.
Force India's Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella crashed heavily in testing at Silverstone on Wednesday and was taken to the medical centre for precautionary tests on his wrist. The Silverstone-based team said Fisichella went into the barriers at Becketts, one of the fastest corners of the circuit that hosts next week's British Grand Prix, in blustery conditions.
Renault discard Giancarlo Fisichella asserted driving for Force India would not be settling for lesser honour.
Laughing off suggestions that his race seat is in danger, veteran driver Giancarlo Fisichella hailed Force India's recent technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes for the next year, calling it a giant leap forward by the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.
Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella will start his 200th Formula One race, Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, in last place. The Italian, who had already collected a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, was the slowest qualifier on Saturday.
The second qualifying session (Q2) continues to elude Force India which will have Giancarlo Fisichella 18th on the starting grid followed by Adrian Sutil in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Giancarlo Fisichella's spectacular sideswiping of the barrier left his car with suspension damages but not before the Italian and his Force India teammate Adrian Sutil had recorded times just over a second off the fastest lap in free practice sessions in Sepang, Malaysia, on Friday.
Force India's search for the elusive maiden point in the current Formula One season continues after Adrian Sutil failed to finish while Giancarlo Fisichella finished 17th at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Sunday. Fisichella began from the last position of the grid and gained three places when he took the chequered flag in the 56-lap penultimate race of the 2008 Formula One season.
Both the Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil clocked up impressive timing in last week's testing on the same circuit in Barcelona which would host this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. Force India's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne reckons the team is moving in the right direction and he says both the drivers would be upbeat as they go for the Spanish Grand Prix and the subsequent races.
Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella talks about the upcoming Formula One season and his team's chances.
Giancarlo Fisichella vividly remembers how his decision to join Force India evoked sneers from his peers. But it took him just three races to embarrass the naysayers and the veteran Italian driver says he now feels vindicated.
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.
Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella posted the eighth fastest time while completing 97 laps as the VJM02 car displayed immaculate reliability for the third day on the trot at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Fisichella's best lap of 1min 21.545 was better than Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi (1:21.569) and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (1:21.657) whose first experience with the new aero package of the MP4-24 concluded with a crash after 86 laps.
Formula One's first foray into night-time racing got under way on Friday with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella steering his Force India car onto the streets of Singapore to start free practice.
Switching to hard tyre helped Giancarlo Fisichella overcome a wobbly start and the Force India driver benefitted from Rubens Barichello's drive-through penalty to gain five places and finish 12th in the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on Sunday.
Force India, without a point in their debut Formula One season, achieved a modest but noteworthy first on Saturday when they reached the second phase of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. Giancarlo Fisichella will start his home race from 12th on the grid on Sunday after mastering the wet qualifying conditions better than world champion Kimi Raikkonen and championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who were 14th and 15th respectively.
The second qualifying session dream finally materialised for Force India as Giancarlo Fisichella will start Sunday's Italian Grand Prix 12th on the grid while his team mate Adrian Sutil will begin from 20th position. In one of their best performances ever, Force India fought difficult conditions on a wet track because of heavy rain and cruised into Q2 for the first time this season.
Force India will give their new Mercedes-powered Formula One car its track debut at Jerez in southern Spain on Sunday, the team said in a statement.
Force India plan to give their 2009 Formula One car its track debut in early March after working flat out to integrate the new Mercedes engine and McLaren gearbox.
Force India's young German driver Adrian Sutil reckons having three-time champion Giancarlo Fisichella as teammate raises the bar for him. He believes the challenge is to match up to the Italian in the upcoming Formula One season.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was quickest on Thursday's final day of Formula One testing for next week's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim while Giancarlo Fisichella crashed heavily in his Force India. The Brazilian, level on 48 points with world champion team mate Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton at the halfway point in the season, was the only driver to lap inside one minute 15 seconds with a best time of 1:14.989.
Force India Formula One team co-owner Vijay Mallya has warned the country not to expect too much from the team in 2008 despite a big budget increase. The Indian billionaire bought into the Spyker team and renamed it after last season and interest has been drummed up further through advertisements about "the force of a billion hearts."
The door is open for AS Roma captain Francesco Totti to come out of international retirement before the 2010 World Cup, the head of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said on Tuesday. The 32-year-old took a break from Italy action after being part of Lippi's 2006 World Cup-winning team and then decided to quit the national team last year, citing fitness problems.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella is set to drive for the Force India Formula One team this season with compatriot Vitantonio Liuzzi taking the role of tester, sources said on Tuesday.
There seems simply no end to Force India's misery, as the Formula One outfit finished its 'home' race at the British Grand Prix on Sunday with another double retirement against its name. Neither of the Force India cars could survive the tough, wet conditions at the rain-lashed Silverstone track and Adrian Sutil was the first to crash out after 10 laps.
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.
Italy recalled 2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi on Thursday to replace Roberto Donadoni.
Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will start Sunday's French Grand Prix at the back of the grid after being eliminated in the first qualifying session in Magny-Cours. Due to the 10-pace grid penalty on Williams' Nico Rosberg from the Canadian Grand Prix, Fisichella and Sutil avoided a 19-20 start by finishing 18th and 19th respectively.
Striker Humberto Suazo scored twice, including a stoppage-time winner, to give Chile a 3-2 away win over Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday. The goals all came in the final 35 minutes of a pulsating match as Chile picked up their second away win in four days, vindicating coach Marcelo Bielsa's controversial decision to field a young team and leave out several top players.
Venezuela beat Brazil 2-0 in a friendly, their first win against the five-times world champions.
Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella will be among seven drivers testing for Force India.
The renamed team, formerly Spyker, said on Wednesday that the two would each have a full day of testing in Jerez from December 4-7, joining fellow-hopefuls Christian Klien of Austria, Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and France's Franck Montagny.
Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella will drop three places on the Turkish Grand Prix starting grid for exiting the pit lane under a red light in Friday practice.
