(I recommend you skip down to the picture if you don't care for history).
If you haven't already gathered, I'm a massive fan of Formula 1 (this post is just FULL of revelations right?). Like any sport I want to support my nations team, or nations driver. Which is why in spite of Kimi Raikkonen being my favourite driver, I am a huge fan of Jenson Button, Paul di Resta and even Lewis Hamilton. Lotus would be my favourite team even if they weren't British, but I am fond of McLaren's history (not so much their present attitude) and even though I don't agree with their recent past I do think Williams are on the mend after hiring a competent driver such as Valtteri Bottas. But these are all British achievements and even though I am still proud of each and everyone of them, I would still like to have a little Irish charm about the sport.
Ireland has a very quick history in Formula 1. Unfortunately I don't mean pace. The first Irish racing driver was Joe Kelly who competed in the British rounds of the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Both were at Silverstone and he failed to finish either. The next Paddy was Derek Daly who was close to being the most successful Irish driver with a career total of 15 points spanning four seasons. Soon after him came Dave Kennedy, Tommy Byrne & Ralph Firman with only the latter receiving a grand career total of 1 point (and he wasn't even Irish, born and bred English but Irish racing licence). Sufficed to say, these aren't accolades to boast about for them. But what about the North of the country, my country?
Northern Ireland has had it's success with racing drivers. Lesser known drivers include Desmond Titterington (who raced for a team called Connaught!!!!!!), Damien Magee & Kenny Acheson who between them have had a handful of races, no wins or points. They aren't the only ones however, Martin Donnelly is probably one of the names that come to mind. Partially for racing in the Senna era, mostly because of a career ending crash he had in which he mangled his whole body. The most successful Northern Irish driver? Depends on how you define so I guess it's subjectional. Eddie Irvine racked up 191 career points over 10 seasons and came a close 2nd to winning the World Championship in 1999. However he only won 4 races. Not that I'm taking anything away from his achievements (I do think of him as a hero), but (maybe) the most successful driver from my beautiful home country is John Watson. With a total of 169 career points through 5 race wins, he's also grabbed 2 pole positions to Irvine's 0. All in all, Northern Ireland whips the South's ass in terms of drivers. But today's topic is all about Ireland's greatest contribution and I'm not talking about drivers. A team however, if managed and nurtured carefully can become a powerhouse like Infiniti Red Bull Racing. And this is why Force India is Ireland's greatest contribution to Formula 1.
Sahara Force India F1 Team started in 2008 and is owned by Indian Tycoon Vijay Mallya who also owns Cricket powerhouse Royal Challengers Bangalore. Their 2012 driver line up consisted of the ever impressive Paul di Resta and the consistent and magical Nico Hulkenberg, with the latter making a step up to Sauber, Paul will continue on presumably as team leader where I personally think he will prosper. Apart from the colours of their livery, how are Force India even remotely connected to Ireland?
WELL. Before they were Force India, the team was known as Spyker who ran through four drivers in one season. Their only season. They received their debut four races from the end of the 2006 season where they took over from Midland F1 Racing, and then subsequently completed full season in 2007. But who did Midland F1 buy before all these events? In 2005 they bought the team known as the face of Formula 1 rock n roll. Yep, Midland bought over Irishman Eddie Jordan's racing team, Jordan Grand Prix. From 1996-2005 Jordan graced the land of Formula 1 with a bright attitude, giving starts like Rubens Barichello, Gianfranco Fisichella, Damon Hill, aforementioned Eddie Irvine, Heinz-Harold Frentzen (who won 2 races with the team) and most importantly, Michael Schumacher. They competed in 250 races with 4 Grand Prix wins.
There is no doubt in my mind, they were never going to be championship material. But they were back markers in their day! That never stopped them though, something which Caterham Marussia & HRT... ooooh awkward. Something slower teams today could learn a thing or two from. You only need to watch BBC programming to see the personality that is Eddie Jordan. The man's a fashion genius with the sense of humour you couldn't find if you lived in Ireland for fifty years! He's not the only personal who have made it big in F1. Mike Gascoyne went on to design cars for Benneton/Renault, Toyta and even back to Force India! He is currently doing his best with what Caterham are providing him. Rob Smedly went on to be an engineer for Ferrari and even made it on to their wall providing his with hilarious conversations between him and Massa. Gary Anderson also enjoyed stints with Jordan racing rounding off an ever impressive roster of employees for Eddie. The team was full of characters giving the sport some much needed character.
The point of making the Force India connection was to highlight a story of which I read a while back that actually startled me. Up until this season or the next (2013 or 2014) Force India still used components from the Jordan era. I feel that's worth highlighting by looking at what the team has accomplished this season! To name one example, Nico's amazing run in Brazil! He was leading the Grand Prix for a distinguished set of time! The only reason he dropped it was because of personal error, nothing to do with the car! Through time, Force India have taken a team from being a back runner, into a team who I can honestly see winning the constructors championship. With Paul hopefully heading the team, hopefully Force India can supplement him with a young driver who can provide plenty of R&D time and data, or maybe even an experience veteran who can push Paul to become the best, or even become a great in his own name. I have only one driver in mind, Heikki Kovalainen. If he doesn't get the Lotus job I think he is perfect and for his performances over the past three years he deserves a reward. However I think the more beneficial choice is the currently unemployed Kamui Kobayashi. Krazy Kob would be a huge gamble, but since Sauber got Force India's old driver, I think it's only fair a swap is made.
Whatever the decision is, I'm sure it's only going to be positive to build on the foundations of Eddie Jordan. That's why even though it may say India on the car, I like to think of them as Force Ireland. After all they have a whisky sponsor on the car!
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