10-Nov-08: Force India Announce Partnership with McLaren-Mercedes
This is F1 Minute and it’s the 10th November 2008.
Force India have confirmed what we all suspected, that they are partnering with McLaren next year. The deal will see the 2009 Force India feature a Mercedes HighPerformanceEngine and a McLaren gearbox and hydraulic system. The agreement lasts for five years, and has given Vijay Mallya a lot of hope for the future. He says: “Of course in 2009 it’s virtually a brand new car and a brand new design. At least from my perspective, winning races I think I can certainly aspire for maybe in 2010, but for 2009 I would be happy if we are regularly in the points. ” For McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh has said the deal makes the two teams very close, and they will discuss all aspects of racing together, however they won’t be making driver decisions on Force India’s behalf.
Also this weekend, the FOTA have agreed that cutting the cost of customer engines is a way to appease the FIA, and have set the price at £4 million.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Ollie on Mon, 10th Nov 2008 19:15
Good news for Force India then, although I’m not entirely certain of the difference a change from Ferrari to Mercedes will make. Mallya says the car will be all-new, but then, so will the other 9 designs.
With the significant change in the rules, the midfield may be brought closer together (if that’s even possible given this year’s closeness), but the big-budget top-three/four/five squads will better deal with the change because they have the money to throw at the problems.
Therefore, I conclude that despite being very cautious last winter, I think Mallya has become the first person to laughably hype his 2009 team. Aside from Honda, who’ve been hyping the RA109 since 1964, but that’s just tradition.
Christine on Mon, 10th Nov 2008 19:20
You’d think he’d have learnt from partnering with Ferrari, that just because you have the fastest engine on the grid, it doesn’t always transfer to the rest of the car as well.
me on Mon, 10th Nov 2008 19:30
four million now?
if the price keeps dropping like this they’re be paying teams to take ‘em off their hands.