The Indian Grand Prix preview

Force India should, in literal terms, call the British Grand Prix its home race. Its headquarters is just a stone's throw from the main gate at Silverstone, after all.

But given its nationalistic branding and the fact that 85 per cent of its shareholding lies in India through Vijay Mallya and the Sahara Group (the Dutch Mol family owns the remaining stake), it would be unfair to call it a flag of convenience. The number of the predicted 60,000 race-day crowd cheering for Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta this weekend will convince us of that. And in the very unlikely even that one of the duo wins the race, it will be the Indian national anthem that blares out at Buddh International Circuit.

Force India has come a long way since it slumped to the back of the grid through its declining days, first as Jordan, then Midland and then Spyker. When it was rebranded, yet again, at the start of 2008, few were enthusiastic about its latest, and presumably short-lived, incarnation as India's national team.

But it has endured and re-established the squad as a strong mid-pack F1 team, finishing a strong sixth in last year's constructors' championship. This year, it's down in seventh, but still has realistic aspirations of reeling in Sauber. Its home race will be the first step towards trying to achieve that.

There will be plenty of pressure on the team, not just because of its identity but also because of the intensifying media coverage of Mallya's business dealings and reports in India suggesting that there might be protests over the grand prix weekend.

"For us, the Indian Grand Prix is huge," explains deputy team principal Bob Fernley. "It's not only from a fanbase point of view, but the shareholders, everything. We've got 500 guests there. There is no hiding for us and we've just got to deliver.

"It's the biggest race of the year and is so important for everything that we are trying to achieve."

One of the major elements of Force India's success this year has been its willingness to shun pay drivers and take the best available. In Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, it has a first-rate line-up. Given that, arguably, Williams has had a stronger car over much of the season, it has been the Force India pairing's ability to maximise opportunities that has allowed it to be in a better position in the championship. What Williams would give now to be able to have Hulkenberg in the car (on the same financial terms, that is, of its current drivers)?

The battle between the pair has also been a fascinating sub-plot, as Fernley points out.

"They are oscillating, aren't they," says Fernley in reference to the tendency of the pair to trade big results. "I don't think it could be any more equal at the moment. It's eight-eight on qualifying and there's only a point in it. What we expected is proving correct, there is a very fine balance between the two of them."

Right now, Hulkenberg is in the ascendancy. It took him a little time to blow the cobwebs away after a year as a Friday driver. He finished seventh in Japan, following that up with an outstanding sixth in Korea. But di Resta, remember, claimed a fourth place only a race earlier, and has had a little misfortune in the previous two weekends even though he has ultimately had to play second fiddle to Hulkenberg.

Given the strength of its drivers, Force India will be disappointed to have missed its targets. After finishing sixth last year, the target was to go one step better this year. To catch Mercedes is too ambitious, but Sauber, 27 points away, is just about catchable with a fair wind. That would be a creditable way to salvage a season that hasn't been quite as strong as hoped.

"Mercedes is a step too far, Sauber is the one," says Fernley. "We know what it's like to be reeled in and lose sixth place by a point at the final race, so it is possible. We have to do what we did in Korea in every single race to the end of the season.

"It would be interesting to look at the stats at the end of the season. It could easily be that, while we might miss our goal, we won't be far off our targets."

Weather

Key India Stats

• Worryingly for the rest of the field, Sebastian Vettel was untouchable here last year, recording his first Grand Chelem by claiming pole, victory, fastest lap and leading from lights to flag.

• Vettel has also been in awesome form over the past three races, scoring a maximum 75 points. His main rivals in contrast have struggled - the next best over the same period is actually Felipe Massa, who has taken 34 points.

• The German enters the weekend bidding for a fourth straight victory - a sequence he has only managed once previously, when he won four straight races from the 2010 Brazilian to the 2011 Malaysian Grands Prix.

• Red Bull likewise enters India chasing a landmark sequence: locking out the front row for three straight races. This is of course on the cards following the team's performances in Japan and Korea. The last team to record a string of three was McLaren, achieved between the 2007 Monaco and US races.

• Mark Webber meanwhile heads into India on the verge of completing a 58th straight race without a mechanical failure. A clean race will therefore move him match the all-time record, set by Michael Schumacher from Hungary in 2001 to Malaysia in 2005.

• Just as Vettel managed to lead the entirety of last year's race, Jenson Button stayed in second throughout the 60 laps.

• Lewis Hamilton in contrast went backwards last year in Buddh. He qualified second, but was demoted to fifth for speeding under yellow flags. In the race he then clashed with Massa - one of several such incidents - and could only finish seventh.

• Fernando Alonso started and finished third last year, making Buddh the only current F1 circuit at which he is yet to finish inside the top two. Alonso also lost out to Button away from the start - to date the last occasion he has lost ground on the opening lap.

• With the Buddh kerbs angled to prevent drivers gaining too much time, Massa has a unique record of having broken his front suspensions in both qualifying and in the race. The Turn 8 kerb was christened the 'Massa kerb' as a result.

Famous 5 F1 winning streaks

With Red Bull chasing a fourth straight victory heading into India, we look back at the some of the greatest winning sequences ever put together by F1 teams.

McLaren - 11

From the 1988 season opener in Brazil to the 11th round of the season (which had 16 races), McLaren proved unbeatable.

In Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna they had the two best drivers on the grid, and while the pair's relationship was not wanting for tension or friction, it was also brilliant - as the longest winning sequence in F1 history proves.

It was Prost who kicked it off, winning from third on the grid at Senna's home circuit. The Brazilian had qualified on pole, but a broken gear selector mechanism forced him to swap cars and start from the pitlane - and would also lead to his eventual black flag for swapping cars after the green flag.

Senna made amends by winning the next race at Imola, with honours split over the next six races - Prost won back-to-back races in Monaco and Mexico and then triumphed in France, while Senna won at Montreal, Detroit and Silverstone. He went on to win the next three - the German, Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix - en route to the 1988 drivers' crown, sealed by just three points from Prost.

Ferrari - 10

Just one behind McLaren's all-time best, Ferrari managed a string of 10 straight wins during its heyday in 2002.

Predictably enough, Michael Schumacher was a key figure in that run, although then team-mate Rubens Barrichello also weighed in with four victories. Unusually, in that run of 10 wins Ferrari only claimed four poles - by way of comparison, McLaren's stretch of 11 wins featured seven.

Schumacher won the opening race and then collected a further four straight wins between Malaysia and Austria, but with David Coulthard prevailing at Monaco the sequence was upset and a new one started from Canada, when Schumacher again triumphed.

Barrichello took the spoils next time out at the Nurburgring - that year's European Grand Prix - despite starting fourth. Williams had kept both Ferraris off the front row, but as it proved that year the Scuderia was a far more fearsome beast come race day. Before the first lap was complete Barrichello had moved from fourth to first, and simple eased away thereafter.

It was the start of an unbroken sequence which lasted until the end of the year. Schumacher won at Silverstone, Magny-Cours, Hockenheim (where he also claimed pole and fastest lap) before Barrichello claimed the rostrum's top step in Hungary. Spa was, funnily enough, scene of another Schumacher victory, and while Barrichello won at both Monza and Indianapolis, Schumacher put the gloss on a dominant title campaign by winning the finale at Suzuka.

Williams - 7

Williams' best run of seven straight wins puts it sixth in the all-time list, although only two teams - McLaren and Ferrari - are above it.

The chain of victories came in 1993, when the FW15C proved the class of the field and carried Alain Prost to the last of his four world championship titles.

Though Prost won the opener, he and Williams were initially matched by the McLaren of arch rival Ayrton Senna, who won three of the opening six events, as did Prost. Come Canada, however, Williams gained the ascendancy.

It was the start of four straight wins for Prost, a run which included the French, British and German Grands Prix. Damon Hill, Prost's team-mate, then took up the chase and won at the Hungaroring, Spa and Monza to seal seven straight wins for the squad. Having been well matched by McLaren over the opening races, Williams ended up taking exactly double McLaren's constructors' tally by the season's end.

Alfa Romeo - 5

Coming in 13th on the all-time consecutive wins list, but still behind only McLaren, Ferrari and Williams, is Alfa Romeo.

The marque won 10 races in total from 112 starts, which came over a wide spread of seasons - after contesting the opening two seasons, for example, it was then represented just twice, in 1963 and 1965, before returning between 1979 and '85.

Its best sequence though came from those first two years of grand prix racing, and at the hands of two of the early greats - Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio.

It was Farina who kicked off the run, winning the fourth of that year's seven races at Switzerland (for which Fangio started on pole). The reverse was true next time out at Spa, with Farina on pole and Fangio the victor. Fangio completed a clean sweep of pole, fastest lap and victory next time out at Reims, before Farina defied him at the Monza finale and sealed the inaugural championship in the process.

The string of five wins was completed in the opening race of 1951, with Fangio dominating at Bremgarten - a perfect start to what would be his first title-winning season. Alfa however had no silverware to show for their success, the constructors' championship not coming in until 1958.

Cooper - 5

Also locked on five, and below Alfa Romeo only due to setting the sequence later in the F1 annals, is Cooper.

Having been represented in the inaugural season, Cooper's involvement increased from 1952 and it raced in every season, although not every race, until the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix, its final race.

During that time its best run of form came in 1960, a year in which it also did the drivers/constructors double. As he had been in 1959, Jack Brabham was the key to its success.

The Australian kicked off Cooper's run in the fourth round of the year at Zandvoort, before he triumphed from pole at Spa. A clean sweep of pole, fastest lap and victory followed at Reims, before a pole/victory double at Silverstone and, finally, a fifth straight win at Porto.

From the forum

Seeing as Red Bull dominated this circuit last year, I fail to see why Vettel won't do the same this weekend. Ferrari ought to be on damage limitation and hope for an Alonso podium, not sure if they're bringing updates to India or not. Teams might have some issues with that too due to the lengthy/awkward customs process in India.
The races tend to get processional this time of the year as the updates become less frequent and everything settles down rather quickly, the tyres become pretty more known and such. I'm guessing they will extend the DRS zone from last year to slightly improve things, but hopefully the race gives us something good.
King Six

I am expecting Lotus to be back to, or at least very close to, the competitiveness they showed at Hungaroring, with greater knowledge of their new exhaust lay-out, but also warmer weather. Ferrari, already showing great form in Korea, should pose a serious threat to Red Bull in the race, with their final development push in place for this GP. McLaren probably needs updates as well, to be able to live with the Red Bull and the prancing Horse.
In short, this should be a very tightly contested race all through, with Sauber, Force India and Toro Rosso likely to scrap in the race, most likely to joined by Mercedes and Williams, with a now working front wing.
race addicted

Having the first DRS detection point before turn 15 gives cars that are good through the medium and high speed corners (and perhaps lacking in top speed) the chance to overtake into turn 16 and then use their DRS to pull away on the pit straight. This prevents what happened with Webber and Hamilton last year at Korea (hence the movement of the detection point for Korea too). Whether it's a good thing is debatable. I think it is a good thing, as it gives the faster car a chance to pull away and opens up an extra overtaking point, but I'm also a RBR fan...
zztopless1

*Key stats supplied by FORIX collaborator Michele Merlino.