How F1's big underdog got its bite back
The team that once hit grand prix-winning heights with Jordan reached its Formula 1's nadir in the mid-noughties. Autosport's sister publication F1 Racing tells how the team, now as Force India, became F1's best bang-for-its-buck squad again
Close up, placed under the spotlight, the VJM09 is a sleek, refined machine, with its unique slotted nose and tight rear packaging. It's quick, too. This year, Force India vied with Williams to have the fourth-fastest car in F1. Fourth. That's an impressive vault up the grid from the team's humble beginning. In 2008, its first year under the ownership of Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, Force India languished at the bottom of the constructors' championship, points-free.
Over the following eight seasons, it has risen to snap at the heels of F1's biggest teams. So how has it made such progress on a budget little more than a third of that of the big three ahead - Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari?
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