Force India Bio : Team owner

Friday, July 11, 2025

Force India Bio

Sahara Force India

Silverstone based Sahara Force India traces its origins to the Jordan Grand Prix team that was formed in 1991. After a few successful years at the premier racing event, the team ran into financial troubles and was sold to Midland group in 2005.

In the mid of 2006 Formula One season, it was bought by Spyker cars company before a consortium lead by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya bought the team for 88 million Euros in 2007. The team was rechristened as Force India and since 2008 has been actively participating in the Formula One World Championship.

The team made its debut with the Australian Grand Prix but had a poor beginning as both of its drivers retired after few laps. The team ended the 2008 season without scoring a point and was placed 10th at the constructors table.

Force India`s best and first ever podium finish came in 2009 Belgian Grand Prix when Giancarlo Fisichella took the pole position and ended the race at second position behind Ferrari`s Kimi Raikkonen.

Since its formation, Force India has shown steady improvements in its car design and development that is reflected on its track performances. The team is currently placed 6th in constructors table.

Paul di Resta

Paul di Resta belongs to a family that has strong racing connections as his two cousins; Dario Franchitti and sports car driver Marino Franchitti are Indy car champion and Indy 500 winners.

Resta began karting when he was eight and moved to Formula Renault in 2003 and added a race victory to his name. He subsequently moved to Formula Three Euroseries in 2005 where his contemporaries included the likes of future F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

He won the 2006 title leaving behind teammate Vettel at second position. This should have translated into a move to Formula One but instead he chose DTM when Vettel by the end of the year was racing in Formula One circuits.

His links with Mercedes at DTM earned him a test at Force India where after some strong performances, he was announced as the team`s test driver for the 2010 season after Vitantonio Liuzzi was promoted to the race team.

Resta then debuted for the racing team in 2011 at Australian Grand Prix scoring his first points in his debut race.

Nico Hülkenberg

Nicknamed `The Hulk`, Nico Hülkenberg has shown his potential to be at the top flight of racing as he earned his team Williams, their first pole position in five years in his debut season in Formula One racing.

After he started karting at the age of 10, Hülkenberg became German Junior Champion five years into the racing when he was 15. In 2005 he debuted in German Formula BMW and took the title. Later he moved to Formula 3 Euroseries where he took the title in 2008. Hülkenberg became the first driver to have won GP2 series before completing the final round in 2009.

He was signed by Williams as their test driver for 2008 season and was promoted to partner Rubens Barrichello for the racing team in 2009 and handed the team a pole position in his debut season in 2010.

However, he was replaced by Pastor Maldonado at Williams but his immense potential and a promising start earned him the role of a Friday test driver at Force India in 2011.

In December 2011, Hülkenberg was named the Silverstone based outfit’s one of the drivers for the following season. The 25 year old registered his best ever finish at the Belgian Grand Prix at fourth position.

Team owner

The chairman of United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya has a flamboyant personality and his image of being the king of good times makes him a media magnate.

He along with Dutch businessman Michiel Mol bought Spyker F1 team for 88 million Euros. Since then he has been the driving force behind bringing the financially troubled Silverstone based motor racing outfit back from oblivion.

Mallya has a keen interest in sports as he owns IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore and owns East Bengal Football club as well. In October 2011, Sahara India Group picked a 42.5% stake in Force India and the team was renamed as Sahara Force India that sponsors Indian cricket team as well.

The stake worth 100 million USD hopefully will give a major fillip to the team`s R&D programmes.

Force India Bio

Sahara Force India

Paul di Resta

Nico Hülkenberg

Team owner

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