Force india unveils livery

[AeroGT3]

Manchild said it best: it's not just the naming of the car, or the team being team India, etc., it's the mention of Mallya everywhere but no mention of the drivers. An "Indian" team with a car named after one man. Now any ONE or two of those things alone wouldn't be so bad. Of course the team owner is going to infiltrate the team in some way.

But it's not just one or two things with Mallya - the whole team is about him. No mention, pictures, video footage, or materials for the drivers, engineers, other investors/owners, or anyone else. This is racing and yet all we hear from FI is from or about Mallya. F1 is about building cars and racing with drivers is it not? So we hear from a fat Indian prick and not from the engineers and drivers because?

Williams and Ferrari are different - they are long term, heritage teams build ground up by single men. Maybe you hate Ferrari or williams or even Ron Dennis, but you CANNOT deny that they deserve what they've done and they worked HARD for their place in F1.

Mallya, without doing ANY work or contributing ANYTHING to the sport, is publicizing and putting himself on a pedestal more than F1's greatest people. That rubs me the wrong way. FIF1 is a way for Mallya to glorify himself, not an F1 team.

This nationalist, egoist BS is bad for the sport and I wish force india all the worst. I am sure that, since Mallya wants nothing to do with the sport and is all about ego, he will leave when he isn't winning WCC's in 2-3 years. He's no Frank Williams.

[overdrayv]

SA??? Who is SA? Has Aguri Suzuki changed his name to "Super"?

in Japan it's family name first then given name. hence, Suzuki Aguri.

[PNSD]

Aero you really need to chill.
He is no Frank Williams correct. But nor is Ron Dennis, nor was Eddie Jordan, nor is anyone !

He has sunk alot of his personal money into the team, and for the first time since Jordan, it looks like its a team with a future. For the first time in a while there are two quick drivers. Not the best, but for the car and team the drivers are a bargin, also with a test driver of F1 race experience. Wishing a team all the worst is childish just because of the way they are being promoted. imo the way he has promoted the team is quite personal, like he is talking directly to you.

Already the team look to have improved over last year.

An "Indian" team with a car named after one man. Now any ONE or two of those things alone wouldn't be so bad.

And what else would the team have been called?

Also the site is mentioned, whats wrong with it?

And there are numerous comparisons to Mclaren/Williams etc.

Why?

Williams and Mclaren remain unique on the grid. You can not compare them to other teams. Its almost asif your sore there are new markets and new teams entering F1.

Im sorry but I find your views on all this very childish.

[jaho101]

He has sunk alot of his personal money into the team, and for the first time since Jordan, it looks like its a team with a future.

I don't know about that, everyone was so confident when Spyker bought Midland, but it turned out they couldn't do much more than Midland anyways. Now another owner has popped up, and the same thing will happen to this team. At least until a manufacturer decides to pick them up and do something with the team.

[dumrick]

SA??? Who is SA? Has Aguri Suzuki changed his name to "Super"?

in Japan it's family name first then given name. hence, Suzuki Aguri.

I'm pretty sure that happens in China, but not in Japan. Not more than in France, at least, where is usual to sign (Surname, Name) but that has nothing to do with the normal order being the opposite.

[majicmeow]

Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Koreans (amongst others) use the "surname first, given name second" scheme. The reason you often see them "reversed" in Western Media/culture is to follow the westernized format for naming, being, "given name first surname second"

[West]

I have to agree with some of the sentiment here - I visited the team website and did not see much about the car or the drivers. It was about the owner saying "here we are world." I am honestly more upset about the way that the Jordan team has been wh*red out ever since being bought by Midland.

Decent livery but we probably won't see much of it on TV unless somebody pulls a Yuji Ide

[Belatti]

If I was Suzuki i would call my car: "ASS" = Aguri Super Suzuki

I use to remember F1 seasons by car liveries, for example I love 1991 to 1993, good variety and very colorful, I dont like 1994, I like very much 1995 and so on.

2007 was horrible and so it is 2008
As many already said, too much white!
BMW and Honda has been historically white, but others could have been more creative.

[bizadfar]

It's ugly. That and the new car is called the "VJM-01."

What a crock of ---. Mally is an egoist prick. Who names the car after themselves? Who brings nationalistic pride into F1? He belongs in A1GP. Force India . . . rubbish.

Why don't we just have team Reich

hmm lets see......

Eddie Jordon called his EJxx

Williams calls theirs FWxx

Prost also.

Peter Sauber called his team Sauber. Not to mention the non manufacture teams of the old days were like that too..........

[Spencifer_Murphy]

I don't see what all the fuss is about. Who gives a damn what he calls his car? Frank Williams called his the FWxx, Bruce Mclaren called his the Mxx, Eddie Jordan called his the EJxx, so whats the problem? Not one of them was an F1 great when they first came into the sport but they still called their cars after themselves without so much hatred.

As far as their website is concerened I see no problem again - omg a video showing a speech from the team owner at it's unvieling, how dare they! - gimme a break. http://www.forceindiaf1.com/forceteam.aspx seems to be lots of information about people other than Mallya himself there to me. The sites not great, but it's by no means a "Shrine-to-Mallya".

Why is there so much hatred towards him? He's egotistical? Well then welcome to the world of F1 my friends because that's how it tends to be. And frankly to be that successful a businessman you gotta be a bit egotistical at least. The only difference I see between him and some other team principals is that he's a successful indian - and I assume that none of this hatred is racially motivated by the indian not knowing his place - so where exactly is the basis for this hatred.

As far as hoping the worst for FIF1, why? Frankly they have more passion that Spyker or Midland ever did, which surely is more meritable than that?

Being half-indian myself, I find it absolutely fantastic that India is being represented in the pinicale of motorsport, and especially by somebody who is rightly proud of his heritage and proud of the fact that after years of poverty India now has an economy which is growing at a rate of 13-14% per annum. How dare he be so proud, they belong in A1GP - what a crock of s**t that is.

As far as Mallya is concerened there is no reason that his country cannot be as well represented in F1, as Italy is by Ferrari - and BRAVO FOR THAT!

Mallya may be egotistical, and he may not be the sort of person I'd like very much to be friends with. But he's a passionate man, who is proud of his heritage, proud of his country, and wants to put his country on the F1 map.

If that's worthy of hatred then so be it. But frankly I find it a disgrace that so many people see the need to pour bile and vitriol on them purely because he's bought out an F1 team and not made it from scratch. Well that's what Super Aguri did, and soon FIF1 will design thier own cars and this will make them more of a construstor (and thus more of an F1 team) than Super Aguri are atm - but nobody hates them so much do they? Is it because Aguri-san is a much more loveable kinda guy than Mallya? I think that's likely reason.

I'm English, as such I love to see British drivers and team do well, being half-indian I'm likely to be biased. But based purely on their merit as a team, passion and will-to-win (or at least will-to-move-up-the-grid for now ) I support them 100%. Plus, in Adrian Sutil, they have an exciting young driver on board, allyed to an experienced vetren who - although maybe passed his sell-by-date, could pull off what DC has done at Red Bull.

All in all, go Force India! And show the haters what you're really about! [-o<

Now that the rant is over:
Personally I like this livery. I agree maybe too much white on the grid atm, but I think this looks better than the interim livery.

[Principessa]

About the livery I must disagree with you Spencifer. I really like the interim livery and although there was some white, it was still distinctively different from the other white livery cars.

I believe that we can expect things from Force India this season that will not be expected by the modal F1 fan. I think they have done a great job hiring Giancarlo Fisichella. I know there are a lot of you out here who do not like him, but I believe Fisico will have a good input in the team. The fact that he gets the chance to collaborate with many engineers and mechanics he has been working with in the Jordan-time can only be a plus in my opinion. And let us not forget about young Adrian Sutil. Shitty car last season, but with the B-spec, Sutil got to show what he was worth and he has made a big impression on me ! And let us please don't forget the input of dear old Mike Gascoyne.

[DaveKillens]

Good rant, Spencifer, and I agree with you. Well said.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

I guess we can agree that the livery is what we might call a marmite livery - you either love it, or you hate it.

That said I think also liking the interim livery and the current livery are mutually exlusive - as I don't think anyone so far likes both (I might very well be wrong about that).

With regards to hiring Fisi, I completely agree Principessa, I still think Fisi is a good driver and he'll bring a lot to the team in terms of development, and he'd also be a good guy to mentor Sutil in terms of racecraft if not driving technique, which Sutil already obviously has mastered.

I don't think however we'll see much from them this season. Its a year old Midland/Spyker chassis, brought upto date to comply with new rules. I doubt it will actually shock anyone in terms of pace. However given a high attrition race they might bag a point here and there.

Next year however will be interesting to see. MG designing with a healthy budget, via feedback from an established pro in the form of Fisi, added to real drive and determination from a team which, I see the sort of enthusiasm and passion from the likes of which I haven't seen since their Jordan days. 2009 will be an upturn for them as they establish themselves this year. I'm thinking along the lines of Super Aguri's performances in 2006 and 2007. 2006 in an ageing chassis they stayed in the game, but in 2007 bagged some reasonable points. Expect much of the same from FIF1 i think.

EDIT: p.s thanks Davekillens

[checkered]

Spencifer_Murphy, I'm with DaveKillens that was

a quality rant. As far as commenting Force India goes, criticism (if deserved) is one thing, even outright competitive opposition is all right, but veering towards unnecessary vitriol is quite another - dubious to say the least. Of course originally I felt that F1 was poorer for losing Jordan. But that didn't prevent me from feeling encouraged by Midland trying their hand in F1 (even though they failed to expand on potentially applicable Russian knowhow) and I was largely positive about Spyker's ambition as well. Of Jordan's "successors", I see Force India emerging clearly as the most viable one to date, very likely to accumulate a bit of F1 history in their own right.

The case for Force India's myopic nationalism and its owner's egotistical motivation is weak in any F1 - or other - comparison. I fully expect Vijay Mallya and his diverse team to appreciate the complexities and potential not only of the "internal" market but also encouraging true international interaction, benefitting people, companies and communities the World over - ethnicity notwithstanding. Also, one cannot overlook the potential and experience of Indian expatriates, their contribution to both their adopted societies and origins, and the very positive brand of multiculturalism and tolerance they've projected for centuries, if not millennia, really.

F1 is just one facet of Global economics, culture and sporting life - not the be all and end all microcosm it sometimes appears as seen from within. Yet everything is interconnected. Seeing Force India's emergence even in a slightly wider context than regarding them as unidimensionally naïve, flimsy, amateurish and uncommitted upstarts buying themselves a seat among "worthies" is a starting point in appreciating where this effort truly gets its inspiration and where they will find the energy to drive them forward. I wish the effort well and will propably even cheer them on from time to time.

Pardon me if I sometimes do give in to the temptation of referring to them as "FIF1", though. It's just the sort of juvenile humour that apparently hasn't ceased to amuse me, and propably won't.

[Principessa]

I don't think however we'll see much from them this season. Its a year old Midland/Spyker chassis, brought upto date to comply with new rules. I doubt it will actually shock anyone in terms of pace.

Well Spencifer, the car presented yesterday will never see the start of a race. The car, which will be used at Australia, will come on track during the Barcelona test. Although the chassis is the same as the Spyker B-spec introduced last season in August, the team has been mainly focussed on aerodynamics, which has proven the way to go the last few years. The new spec car of Force India is also expected earlier than last season's B-spec debut. I believe that after the introduction of the Spyker B-spec car, the results of the team improved a lot and that's why I must say that I'm quite positive towards Force India's chances this season. I think that they will be able to shake Super Aguri off and come closer to teams as Honda and Toro Rosso.