Major investment for Force India

The Force India Formula One Team were formed in October 2007 when a consortium bought the Spyker F1 team.

The consortium was led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and the deal cost ?90 million.

The deal brought continuity to the team which had seen various name changes through the years from Jordan to Midland F1 to Spyker following the sale of the team by former owner Eddie Jordan in 2005.

Since their debut in 2008 the team has continually shown improvement down the years.

From the humble beginnings of their debut season where they failed to score a single point and suffered 18 retirements between Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella to 2009 where Fisichella scored not only Force India’s first points but their first podium finish with a second place in Belgium, backed up by Sutil finishing fourth in Italy scoring the team 13 points in the constructors championship.

In 2010 the Formula One points system was overhauled, with more points on offer to more places, so while the jump from 13 points to 68 points looks impressive it’s not quite so impressive as first thought. The season however still showed significant improvements with eight top eight finishes [in comparison to two in 2009] and in 2011 the team went on to beat the 2010 tally by one single point.

In 2011 a deal with Indian company Sahara India Pariwar showed just how far the team had come with a deal that saw them purchase 42.5% of Force India F1’s shares costing $100 million.

2012 has seen Force India once again improve their seasonal points tally with 99 points already scored with the Brazilian Grand Prix still to come on Sunday.

So on the back of their successes over their first five years the team have announced that £50 million will be invested in the teams technology and infrastructure over the next few months.

‘We had a board meeting in India after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the board has approved a £50 million capital investment programme for the team,’ Mallya told Sky Sports.

‘We are going to invest heavily in new technology and give more tools to our design team to try and move further up the grid.’

‘Looking back at the season so far, we have every reason to feel proud, We’ve scored more points than in any previous season and every year we’ve demonstrated that we’ve gone up the ladder.

‘And we’ve taken fairly significant steps, not just baby steps. Given the tools that we have, which are mostly of the Jordan era, we have done exceptionally well.’

Looking ahead for 2013 Force India are yet to announce who will replace Nico Hulkenberg who has opted to switch teams over the winter to replace Sergio Perez at Sauber.