Force India Mercedes deal, Di Resta to F1?
Scottish driver looks set for Formula one in 2009
Nov 11, 2008
Di Resta, cousin of 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, looks set for a drive in Mallya's Force India outfit as part of the deal bringing Mercedes power to his team.
Force India abandons Ferrari for Mercedes
Mallya announced the deal yesterday, after parting with their previous Ferrari engine partnership earlier in the week and now looks set to replace one of his drivers at Force India for the young Scot.
Originating from East Lothian, Di Resta impressed in testing for Mclaren in October and boss Ron Dennis hinted that his arrival in F1 may be imminent telling the Telegraph: "Paul did a great job when we evaluated him on our simulator.
"We agreed to look into the possibility of integrating him within our F1 programme, but not necessarily with Mclaren."
Di Resta follows in Hamiltons Footsteps
Di Resta who has won the Formula Three Euro Series, succeeding world champion Lewis Hamilton in 2006, has been racing in the DTM series in Germany since 2007 impressing Mercedes-Benz motor sport boss Norbert Haug often in a much slower two year old car.
Norbert Haug told the Telegraph: "He has finished on the podium in 10 of his 20 races, despite sometimes driving a two year old car. I think he's exceptional."
Di Resta period in DTM
Di Resta narrowly missed out on the DTM title this year to Timo Scheider of Audi, Paul finishing only four points behind the German.
He first caught the eye of Haug in 2007 driving a two-year-old AMG Mercedes C-Class, 2005 to earn 5th place in the championship and an immediate promotion to AMG Mercedes' top works team in DTM.
Now, despite not entering through the usual route of GP2, Di Resta looks likely to replace either Giancarlo Fisichella or Adrian Sutil at Force India, being the make weight in the deal between the team and Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz will provide the team with Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines and will be the first time Mercedes has supplied a Formula one team other than Mclaren.
The V10 engine will be supplied along with Mclaren gearboxes and hydraulic systems plus operational support and the new kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) brought in by new regulations in place for 2009.
Force India will not be a customer car
Despite all this Force India are not expected to buy a complete chassis off Mclaren, as the topic of customer cars is still a matter of debate amongst the governors of Formula one.
Toro Rosso is the only remaining customer car in the F1 field after the Super Aguri team, customer of Honda, were forced to leave the grid early in the 2008 season due to financial reasons.
Mallya is determined for success at Force India
But financial difficulties are not a cause for concern for Force India owner and billionaire Vijay Mallya, who looks only for success with his team following this new deal telling the official Formula One website: "Force India Formula One Team has been in existence for only one year, and inevitably our first season has constituted a learning period.
"But we said at the outset that we meant business and were not interested in merely making up the numbers."
With all the changes coming into Formula One next season it is anyone's guess as to who or what team will find themselves at the back of the grid.
Whether this deal will move Force India closer to the front of the pack, we will have to wait and see, but with the possibility of a young talented British driver backed with a Mercedes engine package, no doubt their chances of a more competitive car for 2009 are vastly improved.
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