Force India represents the current ownership of the Silverstone-based team originally created by Eddie Jordan. The team has had a turbulent recent history with first the Midland Group and then the Spyker car maker taking ownership. 2008 will mark another big change as the team runs under an Indian licence as Force India.

The Midland Group, headed up by Alex Shnaider, was looking at its investment in Formula One as a way of promoting its brand. The early stages of the Formula One venture were not a perfectly smooth one for Midland who looked to Italian manufacturer Dallara for technical input on the M16.

Under the guidance of Managing Director Colin Kolles, James Key was the team's new Technical Director and the team has signed Dutch racer Christijan Albers to partner Tiago Monteiro and retained Toyota power.

With limited resources, the 2006 season was always going to be a struggle for the Silverstone-based squad. Albers and Monteiro proved closely matched - and on occasion such as at Monaco - too closely matched. Points were never the target for the team but they did want to show the way to rivals Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri Honda.

The rain hit Hungarian Grand Prix would bring the team its best result with Monteiro finishing in ninth position ahead of Albers. By this time, the team was in deep negotiations with a Dutch consortium led by specialist car builder Spyker.

An announcement at the Italian Grand Prix late in the season confirmed the Spyker purchase, ending Alex Shnaider's brief foray with Formula One. The team signed up Ferrari power for 2007 and recruited former Jordan, Renault and Toyota Technical Director Mike Gascoyne as they hoped to build on a fairly turbulent season in 2007.

As early as the Monaco Grand Prix in May it was rumoured that Spyker cars were looking to get out of Formula One. The costs alone of running a team in modern day Formula One are too much for a small car maker to sustain. However, running under the Spyker banner the team made progress through the season, culminating in its first and sole championship point at the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix.

Christijan Albers struggled against rookie team-mate Adrian Sutil and was dropped from the line-up mid-season. Sutil meanwhile found himself with Marcus Winkelhock as his team-mate for the rain-hit European Grand Prix.

Winkelhock certainly made a name for himself in what was his first Grand Prix start as he and the team gambled on rain tyres just ahead of the start of the race and as a result enjoyed a 15-second lead as the others were all forced to pit for wet rubber. It was a masterstroke of logic from Mike Gascoyne and Winkelhock which sadly went unrewarded as the race progressed.

Sakon Yamamoto, formerly of Super Aguri Honda, joined Sutil for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards. After a shaky start to his season, the Japanese racer actually put in a pretty impressive performance.

However it is all change again for the 2008 season with Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol forming Orange India Holdings and taking over the team. Mallya has promised an increase in budget to 125 million dollars, a large rise on the estimate 70 million of the 2007 campaign, and retained Sutil to partner veteran Giancarlo Fisichella.

2008 was largely a holding year for Mallya's team. The VJM01 package was based on the 2007 car and was not quick enough to score championship points. The highlight of the season was Adrian Sutil's Monte Carlo Grand Prix that saw him on track for a stunning fourth position in tricky conditions.

However it was not to be as Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and rammed into the back of Sutil's Force India Ferrari exiting the tunnel. Sutil was understandable devastated but had proved some critics wrong with a fine drive around the toughest circuit on the calendar.

Sutil and Fisichella remain in 2009, but the team fired Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne and Team Principal Colin Kolles with the former now taking legal action.

On the brighter side, the team has concluded a new deal with McLaren Mercedes for use of engines, hydraulics and Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems for the new season.