Force India continues its partnership with McLaren

Force India and McLaren both have an engine supplied by Mercedes. The expertise developed by the Woking team on the German engines makes them a partner of choice for the Silverstone team. This is why Vijay Mallya has extended the current agreement with McLaren Applied Technologies until the end of the 2012 season.

This agreement, initiated in 2009, stipulates that McLaren will provide its drivetrain, gearbox, and hydraulic system to Force India. It is exactly the same exchange program that Red Bull negotiated with Team Lotus around the Renault engine. Williams did the same with HRT concerning the Cosworth engine.

It must be said that this kind of agreement is win-win since the “small” teams benefit from reliable and high-performance technology for optimal integration, while it represents a significant source of income for the supplier-teams. Moreover, it allows them to have more extensive information on these systems at the heart of the F1 teams’ performance.

Force India will therefore continue in the same vein after a 2010 season, which remains the best in its (short) history with a seventh place in the constructors’ championship. But it is also following the same trend as Ferrari, McLaren, and Virgin by making changes to its technical organization. Thus, Andrew Green, who was previously the director of engineering, will take on the role of the team’s technical director. It’s worth noting that he has a solid knowledge of the team (he was one of the founders of Jordan GP in 1990) and experience with the top teams (having also worked at BAR and Red Bull) before returning to his first love last July.

This must contribute to the dream cherished by Vijay Mallya: « I have always said that I would like to see a Force India on the podium of the Indian Grand Prix, and I think we have the resources, both human and technical, to do so. » Response next October…

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr