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Analysis: Why Force India is the best value-for-money team in F1
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Force India took its best ever constructors’ position in its history this year. Darshan Chokhani looks at just what makes the Silverstone outfit potentially the best value-for-money in Formula 1.
Eight years ago, flamboyant Indian business tycoon Dr. Vijay Mallya wanted to put his country’s name on the motorsport map – something he achieved by leading a buy-out of the struggling Spyker team in late 2007.
India could thus boast of having its own team at the pinnacle of motorsport, as Mallya rebranded his new acquisition ‘Force India’ and set the express goal of developing home-grown talent.
After a learning year in 2008, the team had its first real taste of success in 2009 with Giancarlo Fisichella’s famous pole and a podium finish at the Belgium Grand Prix. The Italian veteran’s second-place finish still remains the team’s best result after 150 races.
The upward trend continued in the following seasons, as Force India progressed from seventh to fifth in the constructors’ standings between 2010 and 2015.
Although 2014 remains the team’s best points haul with 155 points, it was only this year that Mallya’s operation finally managed to break into the top five of the constructors’, even challenging Red Bull for pace late in the season after the arrival of its dramatically improved and innovative ‘B-spec’ car.
To go from 10th to fifth in eight years may seem like a long time to some, but while the likes of Williams, Lotus and even McLaren have suffered wild variations in form, Force India has shown remarkable consistency, as can be seen in this graph.
Moreover, beating teams like Williams and McLaren on an annual operating budget of about £85m is no mean feat, especially as Force India does not have the luxury of receiving FOM "historic” payments like some of its closest rivals.
Financially, the team has always never been one of the most secure, but it has never allowed this to herald a significant performance dip in all these years – showing what matters is smart investment, rather than the size of the team’s wallet.
Indeed, the team can stake a valid claim to being the best value-for-money outfit in F1 today. But how have they managed to achieve this?
The first foundations were laid in 2009, when Force India switched from Ferrari to Mercedes power, initiating a long-term partnership with the German manufacturer that has paid major dividends since the sport’s adoption of the V6 turbo hybrid formula in 2014.
Another important aspect has been sound driver selection. The team has been able to rely upon some polished and consistent performers through its history, including Fisichella, Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta, all of whom managed to come close to extracting the maximum from the machinery at their disposal.
Force India’s current line-up of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg is arguably among the strongest on the grid, the former having delivered the team its second and third podium results and the latter proving a very solid points-gatherer without reaching the peaks of his younger teammate.
The philosophy of avoiding the temptation to hire an out-and-out “pay driver” to bolster the balance sheet has brought the team rich benefits, in turn helping to attract a healthy portfolio of commercial sponsors.
Earlier this year, the team also took the tough decision of switching to using the ex-Toyota F1 windtunnel at the TMG base in Cologne, deciding it had gotten everything it could from its own in-house facility.
It reaped immediate results when the team got its B-spec car running midway through the season, ultimately allowing it to secure its best ever constructor’s position and become a regular top 10 presence.
What has also helped the outfit is the longevity of key personnel within the team, the likes of technical director Andrew Green, sporting director Andy Stevenson, deputy team principal Robert Fernley and COO Otmar Szafnauer having all stayed on board long enough for the team to have been able to develop and mature in a constant fashion.
While there is every reason for Force India to celebrate its success, there is little time to bask in glory in F1, which for the teams is just as much of a race off the track as it is on it.
But with the technical regulations remaining relatively stable in 2016, and with financial boost brought about by its best-ever finish along with new sponsors - and that potential tie-up with Aston Martin - the team could begin to take on Williams and Red Bull and pose a challenge for third place in the constructors’.
And if they do so, it will be with the added satisfaction of having spent considerably less money than the boys at Grove or Milton Keynes.
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I još jedna analiza koja se dotiče kasne B specifikacije
Could Force India have beaten Red Bull had its B-spec car made an earlier debut? Jonathan Noble looks at the data.
For a team whose cashflow problems meant its 2015 Formula 1 car failed to make the first two tests this year, Force India ultimately emerged as one of the late surprises of the campaign.
Its strong form – as it regularly got through to Q3 and challenged some of the bigger budget teams – was such that it left team chiefs pondering just what might have been.
Was there a chance it could even have overhauled the Red Bull team had it had its new car on track from the start?
As COO Otmar Szafnauer said after Abu Dhabi, when asked if he ever wondered if the team could have been beaten Red Bull in the constructors' points if the B-spec had come earlier: "Absolutely.
"We had proper pace at the end of the year – and were ahead of the Red Bulls by then.
"I sometimes listened to the television commentary, and I remember Sky speaking to Christian Horner on the pit wall at one time saying they were going to give Daniel Ricciardo the green light to overtake Sergio Perez.
"I just sat there and thought, 'it ain't going to happen.'"
But is the talk of the team having had a chance to beat Red Bull real, or just wishful thinking? Let's look at the maths.
Silverstone turnaround
Having operated without much fanfare in the early stages of the year, the B-spec car that arrived at the British Grand Prix proved to be a pretty solid platform for some impressive performances thereafter.
Sergio Perez's podium finish in Russia – albeit thanks in part to the last-lap clash between Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas – was an obvious highlight.
But it is when you start poring over the data of how the car performed that you realise how much more the team could have achieved if it had had its B-spec car from the season.
Force India's car appeared at the British Grand Prix – round nine of the championship – with the team having scored a total of 31 points up until that point. That meant it had an average strike rate of 3.875 points per race.
Over the final 11 rounds of the world championship, Force India added another 105 points to its tally – 9.545 points per race.
To put that in context, more than 77 percent of its points were scored with its B-spec car, showing what genuine progress it had delivered.
But while the B-spec car never allowed the team to close the points gap between itself and the ever-improving Red Bull – with the margin widening from 24 points pre-Silverstone to 51 points by the end of the campaign – what is more debatable is what would have happened if the B-spec had arrived in Melbourne.
Had the car been able to deliver the points per race it managed from Silverstone onwards, then Force India's point tally would have been 76 points from the first half of the campaign.
Add that to the 105 it scored once it was introduced, and the team would ended the year on 181 points, six shy of Red Bull's final tally.
Then we get in to territory of whether Force India would have taken points away from Red Bull early on, or made a bigger push at the end to not concede ground?
Whichever way you look at it, it was certainly close enough to have suggested Force India would have had a shot of beating its nearest rival.
Future optimism
While digging into the stats shows how close Force India may have come to Red Bull, its form at the end of the year has at least raised hopes of it delivering better in 2016.
It is hopeful that an advance of TV rights money from Bernie Ecclestone will be approved, to help alleviate the cash flow dramas of 12 months ago.
And that will allow it to hit the ground running when testing begins in February.
Szafnauer added: "The regulations don't change drastically, so whatever we've done this year will apply to next year. We will have a good base to start.
"We should be good. The team is gelling and we don't have a lot of turnover – and stability helps in this business."
The message from Force India is clear: Red Bull had better look over its shoulders.
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