Force India “Means Business” - Signs 5 Year Deal With Mercedes
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Nov 10, 2008
This is an update to:
Force India Terminates Engine Deal With Ferrari As It Requires ‘Greater Performance Accountability’
Force India
Force India hope to be challenging for Formula One race wins by 2010 after announcing a five-year partnership with McLaren and Mercedes on Monday.
The deal, presented to factory employees by principal Vijay Mallya and McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh, will see the team use the same engines and gearbox as those in world champion Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren.
The Silverstone-based Formula One team, owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, have agreed a reported five-year deal with McLaren for the supply of gearboxes, hydraulic systems and Mercedes-built engines.
McLaren will lend operational support and provide the team with the new kinetic engine recovery system (KERS) that is due to be implemented for 2009.
The announcement comes three days after Force India ended their two-year deal with Ferrari for the supply of engines 12 months ahead of schedule.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” said Vijay Mallya, chairman of Force India. “McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are two of the most famous names in motorsport history, having achieved superb success in Grand Prix racing over many years, and most recently, a superb victory in probably the most dramatic world championship Formula One has seen.”
“Force India Formula One Team has been in existence for only one year, and inevitably our first season has constituted a learning period,” Mallya said.
“We said at the outset that we meant business and were not interested in merely making up the numbers,” Mallya said. “The announcement of our new technical partnership and new resources clearly underlines that we meant what we said.”
