Formula 1:McLaren’s De la Rosa tests for Force India

McLaren’s Spanish reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa switched over to testing duties with the Force India Formula One team at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday.

Force India this month agreed a five-year partnership deal with McLaren and Mercedes that will see them replace their Ferrari engines with a complete drivetrain (engine and gearbox) package next season.

The team will also use a KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) designed by McLaren and Mercedes.

The deal has triggered speculation the experienced De la Rosa could also be drafted in as a race driver for the Silverstone-based team but a Force India spokesman played that down.

“Pedro is an old friend of the team,” he said, pointing out that the Spaniard had been a test driver for Force India’s predecessors Jordan in 1998 before making his F1 race debut with Arrows in 1999.

FRESH FACE

“It’s an opportunity for a fresh face to put a new perspective on an old car,” he added.

While some other Formula One teams have two more tests planned before the New Year, this week’s outing at the Spanish Grand Prix circuit will be Force India’s last track appearance of the year.

The team will not be able to use their Mercedes engines until January and have almost used up their supply of Ferrari power units.

De la Rosa, who tested for McLaren on Monday, was joined by Force India’s German race driver Adrian Sutil on Tuesday with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella scheduled to test with the Spaniard on Wednesday.

Force India’s billionaire owner Vijay Mallya has said the team intends to keep Fisichella and Sutil but hinted recently that the McLaren deal could change his thinking.

“They (McLaren) will recommend what they believe to be in the best interests of my team and I have to decide,” he told Reuters last week. “And I would be hard pressed to ignore their advice.”

Formula One: Force India still looks for a point

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.

Sutil encountered a gearbox problem on lap 14 and was forced to pull off the track before even completing one third of the race distance.

The German driver, beginning at 19th position, had graduated to 17th but had to face his second consecutive failure.

The team will now return to its base in England evaluate the data before launching its final hunt for points in the Brazilian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

“Very early on in the race my car developed a problem. I couldn’t select gears anymore and had to pull off just before the main straight and park the car.

“Until that point I was quite happy in the car, even though the traction and grip was very low so it’s disappointing not to finish yet again. I really hope for more in Brazil now,” Sutil said after the race.

Fisichella admitted that he struggled to adjust to the traction of the track.

“We knew our pace was not really good enough today so we just tried to find a different solution to gain places. We went for a one stop strategy but I was really struggling with the grip to start with,” he said.

“In the last 10 laps before the end of the race I was able to do reasonable lap times, but it was a fairly lonely race for me at that point. Anyway, we now go onto Brazil and the last race,” Fisichella added.

Mike Gascoyne, the chief technical officer of the team, was naturally disappointed with the result.

“It was disappointing not to get two cars to the finish today, but Giancarlo did a good job to get the car home in what’s been a difficult event for us. Adrian was on a two stop strategy but unfortunately had a failure, which we believe was an electronic matter related to the gearbox.

“Giancarlo was on a one stop strategy and while the first stint on the harder tyre was OK, with the lapping in the second stint he couldn’t really improve his position. We will now move onto the final race and hope to be more competitive there,” he said.

Vijay Mallya , chairman and managing director, took solace from the fact that at least \one car finished the race but did not hesitate in terming the result as ‘shameful’.

“It has been a challenging weekend for the team and to get one finish is at least some small consolation. Giancarlo did everything expected of him, keeping out of trouble and bringing the car home.

“While 17th position is not something we can get excited about, it is a finish and in an extremely reliable field we need everything we can. Adrian was again unfortunate to be struck by a problem early on.

“It is a shame but we have to learn from this and move on. I am sure he and the team will be expecting more in Brazil,” he said.

Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor at Singapore

I picked this up from Rediff site.

Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor [Images] added to the glamour quotient in the Force India garage as the young actors met the team drivers ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

– Imran and Sonam presented Force India driver Adrian Sutil, of Germany [Images], with a Siddhivinayak [Images] Ganesha idol during the qualifying event of the Grand Prix on Saturday.

The team, however, disappointed on Formula One’s first night as Giancarlo Fisichella failed to set a time in the first qualifying session, while his team-mate Sutil could only manage to complete 10 laps.

The Force India duo will now start at the back of the grid at the inaugural Grand Prix in Singapore on Sunday.

Fisichella ends up at 14th while Sutil crashes out

Reports from PTI…

Singapore, Sep 28 (PTI) Points continued to elude Force India in the current Formula One season with Ginacarlo Fisichella finishing 14th and Adrian Sutil failing to complete at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix, the first ever race conducted under floodlights.
Sutil crashed out of the race after having a brush with the wall on lap 49 when running behind Felipe Massa.

Massa spun and rejoined the race. In an attempt to avoid hitting the Ferrari, Sutil ran wide across the kerbs and into the barrier.

Fisichella was running as high as third in the early stages of the race, the highest position a Force India car has run this season.

Sutil rued that misfortune continue to dog him one or the other way.

“I think it was a good race as the pace was good and I felt really confident in the car. It was just so unlucky when Felipe spun in front of me and then suddenly pulled away.

“The way was blocked, but I avoided a crash with him only to go into the barrier myself. It’s really disappointing as we’ve had so much bad luck already this year. It’s Fuji next though, which I really enjoy and know I can perform well on,” he said.

Fisichella looked satisfied by his position in the wake of yesterday’s accident in the practice session.

“It was a long, hard race, but I have to say we really did the maximum possible. A big thank you to everyone on the team who did such a fantastic job to get the car going again after the accidents yesterday and for giving me a car we could really race with,” he said. PTI

Force India’s trial by fire!!!

The first Indian-owned team to start a Formula One race were given a tough lesson in the realities of the sport when both their cars failed to finish Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Force India, which is co-owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya , never expected to challenge the likes of McLaren and Ferrari for victory but were hoping to at least make it to the finish.

Former Australian Grand Prix winner, Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, crashed out on the first corner, while Germany’s Adrian Sutil retired after eight laps because of a hydraulic pressure problem.

“It was a very disappointing first race for Force India,” the team’s chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne told reporters.

“We missed a great opportunity to score points… and we have to look to get a better result in Malaysia (next weekend).”

The team’s frustration at failing to finish the race was compounded by an unusually high casualty rate which saw just seven cars complete the event.

Fisichella, who had started from 16th place in the grid, made a clean getaway when the race began but came to an abrupt halt when he was caught in a pile-up.

“I was very disappointed as I lost the race at the first corner because another driver came in like a kamikaze into my car,” Fisichella said.

“It was very frustrating because this was such a good opportunity to score points.”

AVOIDED CARNAGE

Sutil started the race from the pit lane after cracking a chassis in qualifying. He managed to avoid the carnage at the first corner and got as high as 13th place before his day also ended prematurely.

“It was good while it lasted,” Sutil said. “In the opening laps, I could stay with the guys in front of me.”

Force India raced as Spyker last season, scoring just one point and finished 10th overall in the 11-team championship after McLaren were stripped of all their points for a spying controversy.

Mallya bought the team in the hope that Force India would be on the podium when New Delhi hosts a Formula One race in 2010 but knows the obstacles they face.

Despite his disappointment at failing to finish the race, Mallya said there were still plenty of encouraging signs.

“I was very pleased with the weekend despite the frustration of going out early in this astonishing race,” he said.

“I was, however, very encouraged with the pace we showed in the practice sessions.

“Although qualifying was ultimately disappointing, last year in Australia this team was well off the pace, this year we were up with the midfield.”

Photograph: Getty Images | Text: Reuters