Sahara Force Team arrives for F1 Bahrain

In 1991, the entrepreneurial ex-racer turned junior race team boss Eddie Jordan pulled together a dedicated little team and built a fabulous Formula One car with a mix of charisma and blarney. He inadvertently launched the career of Michael Schumacher, and kept wheeling and dealing until, in 1999, his team came within a hair’s breadth of winning the world championship.

By 2004, however, Jordan Grand Prix was in decline and Jordan sold his team to the Midland Group in 2005. Midland sold it on to the Spyker car company in 2006 and then in 2008 another colourful entrepreneur – India’s Dr. Vijay Mallya – bought it and renamed it Force India.

Now co-owned by one of Mallya’s business partners, the Sahara Force India F1 Team is very close to the McLaren team and Mercedes-Benz, evidenced by the presence of talented Scot and Mercedes protege Paul di Resta in one of the cars.

Add in the presence of Nico Hulkenberg in the second car and one of the most promising driver line-ups in the field can be found within a team that is following in the tradition of its original founders of highlighting new talent and bringing colour to the paddock.