Comments on: Will Force India make a leap forward in 2009 after their McLaren deal?

By: bobby

bobby — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:06:08 +0000

this is really a good steep by force india to take a hand of mers i hope they keep getting points in 2009

By: Striay

Striay — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:36:14 +0000

thanx for the reply Keith sorry i didnt answer erlier ive got loads of homework (3 essays 12 science pgs)

im at GCSE but i dont know what to study at Uni any ideas ?

Sorry for being off the subject!!!!

By: Bud

Bud — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:28:21 +0000

I’m sure Ferrari are thrilled that McLaren will have 2 new wingmen protecting their drivers *****.
Nice move, love it.

By: GeorgeK

GeorgeK — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:42:21 +0000

Granted with the new aero limitations there may be a bit (emphasis on a bit) of less aero testing required, but the car design will still be critical. Sooo, I think F.I won’t score any points until year 3 of their deal, maybe a podium by year 5, but absolutely no wins.

And is it just me or does this sound like a buy into the team by McLaren? Why else would McLaren operations officer be named F.I.’s COO??

Just wondering.

By: beneboy

beneboy — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:35:19 +0000

@ Jason

Sorry mate, should have been a bit clearer earlier.

Using the customer team model of Red Bull/Toro Rosso where the cars are running different engines.
Or the McLaren/Force India model where the manufacturer supplies the engine/gearbox/drivetrain & associated parts that the customer then builds a car around.

Either of these allows smaller teams to compete at vastly reduced costs without it being a complete clone of the manufacturers cars. The Red Bull/Toro Rosso set up makes perfect sense to me, it’s always cheaper to make more of something so running 2 teams with a 1st team & feeder team is a good solution.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:00:57 +0000

JSC – Sauber ran an entire Ferrari rear-end one year, including engine, gearbox, suspension, uprights, etc. I think Prost did something similar in 2001, when their customer Ferrari units were badged as Acers. Another year (2004?), Sauber’s car was remarkably similar to the 2003 Ferrari. But none of these brought the customer team any great success.

By: DG

DG — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:42:08 +0000

JSC: As for Mallya ditching Kolles and Gascoyne and appointing himself team principal

Thats got me thinking, have McLaren/Mercedes already told Force India to appoint the relevant people from Prodrive?
It would be a nice little swipe at FIA/FOM/Frank Williams wouldn’t it?
Personally, I think Prodrive have gone back to racing Aston Martins, what they are very good at! – oh, and as a follow up to a previous article – the Merc/AM deal is reported to be to provide Maybach engines for a new Lagonda sports/luxury car range including SUVs etc

By: Florida Mike

Florida Mike — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:44:05 +0000

I think Mercedes sees India as an important market and intends to use the Force India relationship to strengthen its position as the leading performance luxury brand

By: Alex Cooper

Alex Cooper — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:59:34 +0000

Ah of course – extra mileage on the new equipment.
Cheers Keith.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:49:28 +0000

Alex –

what do McLaren get out of this?

Money, more cars running their kit in testing, possibly a say in what drivers Force India uses.