Each week between March and November, a deep schism develops between some of the Über bloggers here as the Formula One circus travels round the world, a direct effect of the omnipresent cold war between the Intelligent World and the *cough* dumb *cough* Tifosi. But when it comes to Vijay Mallya and Team Force India, we always cheer as one for Fisi and Sutil as they fight their way through the ranks.
So it was indeed a pleasant surprise to hear today that Force India is going to tie in with Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (a team that counts this blogger as one of it die-hard fans, through thick and thin) to use McLaren’s cars (via Autoblog). Incidentally, Force India’s cars are currently powered by Ferrari customer engines.
What is interesting is that Force India, whose cars have often been two seconds or more off the pace, is switching from one front runner to another. While Ferrari won both the Constructors and the Drivers Championship last year thanks to some arguably dubious decision by the FIA, their Drivers title hopes this year have been hampered by some silly work by their drivers and their otherwise brilliant pit crew. On the other hand the Silver Arrows, a perennial front runner for the most part of the last two decades and a team that recently celebrated 40 years of winning in Formula One, have been charging ahead this year. Lewis Hamilton is comfortably placed to win the fight for the Drivers championship, but the race is as close as it is only because of the rampant behind-the-scenes skulduggery by the mad hatters otherwise known as the FIA.
However, the deal is currently tentative, since Formula One has deemed that customer engines/cars are objectionable and has decreed that come 2010, teams such as Force India must build their own chassis and engines, rather than sourcing from teams such as McLaren. Hence this development merits a close watch since it presents the thought that, that with cost cutting being the new mantra in Formula One, technology sharing is perhaps the way to go.
And the avid F1 watchers here at UD will keep you all in the know. Watch this space for more.
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