F-1 India

A surprise, ain't it? The success of Brawn in Monza may seem a surprise to one and all in Monza with great expectations from Luis Hamilton and Kimi Raikonnen but one will accept that there was no answer in the Ferrari or MLaren pitwall to Brawn's one stop strategy that got their cars on top of the podium. It was Rubens Barichello, the most experienced driver in F-1 on the tracks, who managed to stay ahead of his teammate Jenson Button. Lewis Hamilton seemed to have got the better pace of the two Brawn GP cars but was nowhere near the success of their one stop strategy. Instead, when trying to get closer to Button on the ultimate lap of the race to make a move on him, he lost grip and ran straight into the walls at well over a 200km/hr. This allowed Kimi to finish on the podium and gave Adrian Sutil the fourth place on the grid. Had it not been for a small mistake by the Force India team in the pits, who knows Force India would have been on the podium for a second time on the grid. The second Force India car, that of VitNtonio Liuzzi, met with a gearbox failure in the middle of the race and could not see the chequered flag.

Q: Vijay, after the Spa qualifying session you said that it was the best day for you in Formula One racing. Then came the race with the podium and the first points for Force India, and today both of your cars make it into Q3 with Adrian Sutil on the front row. So the good days are here to stay for you and the team…
Vijay Mallya: I’ve told everybody that we are trying very hard and making gradual improvements, and for sure I wanted to prove the point that Spa was not a lucky fluke. The performance of the car in practice, as well as in qualifying today, shows that Spa was a hard-earned and well-deserved result. It shows that the car has improved a lot and the fact that Tonio Liuzzi put the car in Q3 to start the race in seventh position, after not driving a Formula One car for almost two years, fully justifies my selection. I hope that all the critics of Force India are now completely silenced!

Q: In fact many had thought that Spa was a one-off, but today you have proved that the team has made a massive step forward. To what do you attribute that massive improvement?
VM: I always pointed out that last year we basically were running the old Spyker car and that Force India really started with the beginning of this season. Even though the name of the team was Force India in 2008, it was not our car. I consider 2009 as the first season of Force India in Formula One. This car is designed by us, is built by us and it has always been a competitive car, even since Melbourne. Unlike the Spyker it hasn’t always been running at the back. It is simply a hugely competitive sport that takes time. It has taken other teams years to get to the front. The fact that we have done it in 30 races, I am personally very proud of. I’ve made a lot of management changes in this team. I gave all the young engineers a chance. We don’t have an equivalent of a Mike Gascoyne any more. The success is a true team effort and not the success of a single individual. That success supports my belief, my guys, my confidence, and I am very proud. This is not my achievement but that of the whole team.

Q: Not so long ago you said that Force India are running on the smallest budget in Formula One racing . What message does your success send out to all the others running on much more money?
VM: A very simple one - money cannot buy performance. With the smallest budget we have shown some fantastic results, which I think proves my point.

Q: So Force India have become a role model for a successful team effectively running under a budget cap?
VM: I am too small and too insignificant to be a role model. I just concentrate on my business and stay clear of politics. I try to do my best, I motivate my people and I am very proud of our results.

Q: Since Monaco last year, Adrian has had his fair share of bad luck. You must be very pleased with his performance today, luck and his ability finally coming together…
VM: Adrian has not been unlucky per se. Adrian was disappointed with his luck. During the 2009 season I know of at least three races where Adrian definitely could have scored points. But I always had great faith in Adrian. He is very quick, he is a great human being, he tries very hard, he is honest and that is why I have kept him and encouraged him as far as I could. All the belief that we have in our young people at Force India is paying dividend now!

Q: You just said that Tonio proved you right and that his performance must have silenced all the critics. But have you been surprised about how well he has done?
VM: Before the race I called him to my home in Cannes. He and his manager came. He stayed with me in my villa and I talked to him. What I like about him is that he showed complete commitment. He was hungry! He was willing to go that extra mile to achieve. And he’s done it. True, he hasn’t been in a race car for a while but today he stunned everybody. I am very proud of him.

Q: Today four teams have been able to put both their cars into Q3 and Force India is one of them. Since Spa where do you see yourself in the pecking order? Are you developing into the fourth power on the grid?
VM: I am not going to speculate. I am going to take it one step at a time. There is no point in trying to predict, but I always tell my guys to stay out of trouble and do the best they can. I have confidence in their ability. And a nice side effect of today’s result is that again tomorrow I don’t have to go far down the grid!

This interview with Mallya clearly shows how confident he is with his team, engineers and his drivers. There is no way a small budget has effected the team's performance and they have proved it in true sense here at Monza.

Boom Boom Force India!!! Yes..yet again force India have proven how effective a team they can be, on tracks such as Monza. Adrian Sutil almost took the pole on Saturday evening but for Lewis Hamilton giving an astonishing quick lap in his KERS loaded McLaren. Even in his quick qualifying lap just before the chequerd flag, Sutil made a small mistake, and still made it to a second place on the grid. Had it not been for the understeer and the oversteer he committed, who knows we would have seen a Force IOndia on the pole. On the other hand, VitNtonio did not perform bad either and was seventh fastest in the Q3, the last of the qualifying sessions. Now. the Indian fans have a race to watch tomorrow, as the two Force India cars are among the top seven on the grid. 

Lewis Hamilton gave a final boost to his car and to his driving skills and made it to the pole in his last lap of the qualifying session. Kimi Raikonnen in his Ferrari ranked third. Though I'll say Kimi drove the lap of his life to make it to a third place on the grid. The Ferrari he was driving was not as smooth a car as one would have imagined. Fisichella, who quit Force India to drive for Ferrari, could only make to the fourteenth place.

Force India are on top again!!! Yes, a delight for the fans back here in India. Vijaya Malya, Force India and Adrian Sutil lived up to the promise they made earlier this week and this time its Adrian who drove the Indian fans wild with his excellent performance on the streets of Monza. One cannot but feel pleased to see a car like that of Force India, counted among the low performing cars on the track this season, performing much better than cars that are running with KERS installed on them. Monza streets were burnt by the performance of Adrian Sutil when his car ranked first in the final practice session here at Monza. brawn showed a significant improvement and Ferrari failed to impress its fans. Though the chances of a bounceback by any team cannot be denied because the first fourteen drivers were inside a time split of a single second. Especially cars with KERS installed on them will hope to be making better use of it on the straights in Monza. Today's qualifying session will be much awaited amongst fans all over the world hoping to see their favorite team on top of the grid for the only reason that only a second separates the first fourteen drivers on the grid.

Its a big news for Force India and Indian fans back home who are following F-1. It is the best that one could have imagined today. Force India leads the practice session timing charts with Adrian Sutil performing his best to put the team on top of the table. Renault stands second and third followed by a Mclaren. Vitntonio Liuzzi also improved upon his timing and moved up from bottom of the table to a twelve place on the charts. It seems the fans back home are going to get a race full of Force India power fully presented by the many folds confident team. Team Force India has improved tremendously over the season and with a very small budget(the least amongst its competitors), the team has proved its worth. This weekend will probably see another Force India podium finish!!!

A non KERS car was third in Friday's practice session1 and guess what , it was Force India. Yes, Adrian Sutil in his non KERS Force India car was third on the charts in the 1st practice session  here at Monza. Though liuzzi did not match his pace but it seems he will after putting down some rust that has built up on him while acting as a testing driver. KERS is definitely showing its effects in Monza where Mclaren gave a one-two practice session1 with Hamilton leading the timing charts. though one surprise that has come up is Ferrari not living up to the expectations and ended up quite late on the charts. Though they are expected to bounce back any moment seeing their success with the car in the previous race and the KERS installed. Here are the results of the first ten places in the 1st practice session.

The current conditions in Monza indicate a rain washed race here in Italy. After decades of rain free races on this track, we may see the second of the consecutive wet races in Monza. High speed straights will not make much of a difference though and the with no high speed corners on the track, cars will still run steadily and quick.

Another development that has built up is the installation of new curbs on the corners in Monza. These are higher than those that were already present here. These curbs have also been added to the race track Nurburgring. These curbs will prevent the drivers from very high speeds around the first and second corners and will also prevent them from cutting these curves. The drivers used to straighten the cars along these corners and this has been a problem for several years now for the FIA. Installation of these higher curbs was already seen successful in Nurburgring earlier this year. A disadvantage for the drivers though.