Spyker F1

Spyker F1

Full name	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team
Base	Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Team principal/s	Colin Kolles
Technical director	James Key
Race drivers	20. Adrian Sutil 21. Sakon Yamamoto
Test drivers	Markus Winkelhock Adrián Vallés Fairuz Fauzy Giedo van der Garde
Chassis	F8-VII
Engine	Ferrari 056H
Tyres	Bridgestone
Formula One World Championship Career
Debut	2007 Australian Grand Prix
Latest race	2007 Chinese Grand Prix
Races competed	16
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
2006 position	10th (0 points) (as MF1 Racing)

Spyker F1 is a Formula One team created in September 2006 by Spyker Cars, after the buyout of short-lived outfit Midland F1. The change to the Spyker name, meant that the team switched racing livery from the red and white previously used by the Midland concern, to an orange and silver scheme—already seen on the Spyker Spyder GT2-R—orange being the Dutch national color.

Background

Although created in 2006, the team's roots can be traced back to the year 1991, when it was founded as Jordan Grand Prix. The Silverstone-based squad and facilities were bought by the Midland group in 2005 and re-named Midland F1 in 2006, before being sold to Spyker Cars towards the end of the 2006 season.

The Buyout of Midland F1

Christijan Albers driving the freshly-applied Spyker livery at Silverstone, soon after the purchase of the team from Midland.

Rumours had been floating about in the paddock throughout the mid-season about the possible sale of the team, less than two years after Alex Shnaider originally bought it from Eddie Jordan. Reports suggested a price tag of $128m, and that Shnaider was seriously considering the possibility of the sale. Formula One teams had become more valuable, due to the fact that no more teams could enter after 2008, with the maximum of 12 places already filled.^[1]

On 9 September, 2006, it was revealed that the team was sold to Spyker Cars, a Dutch manufacturer of hand-built cars.^[2] Spyker paid $106.6 million for the team.^[3] On September 10 ITV commentators said that both Shnaider and former consultant Johnny Herbert were no longer involved in the team since the announcement of the sale.^[4]

Former Midland drivers Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro were retained for the remainder of the 2006 season, with it being announced at Spyker's debut race in China, that Albers, a Dutchman - has also been signed to drive in 2007. As part of the deal, the cars had a revised livery for the final three races of 2006.^[5] The name of the team also changed to Spyker MF1 Racing, as FIA regulations preclude a change of a team's name during a season but do allow for a sponsor name to be added to the front.

2007 and onwards

It was announced in China that the previous team boss of Midland, Colin Kolles, would remain as team principal into 2007. Michiel Mol is to become the new Director of F1 racing and member of the Spyker board, and Mike Gascoyne will become the Chief Technology Officer from the end of the 2006 season.^[6]

Christijan Albers in his Spyker on the grid of the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The team is running customer Ferrari engines in 2007, replacing the Toyota units, which have gone to the Williams team. The team is also using the Dutch flag from 2007 instead of the Russian flag, since Spyker is based in the Netherlands.

For the second race driver, Spyker signed one of their 2006 third drivers, Adrian Sutil, to drive for the team in 2007.^[7] The news was announced on December 21 2006.

Also, the official FIA entry list for 2007 was posted on various websites on December 4, 2006, and on the list the Spyker F1 Team was assigned car numbers 20 and 21, but only Christijan Albers' name was made official on the entry list, with the second seat, and car number 21 left TBA, since Sutil had not been confirmed at the time. However, the car numbers were swapped inside the team as Albers wanted to drive a car with an odd number, hence Albers (and later Winkelhock and Yamamoto) raced with number 21 and Sutil 20.

Spyker F1 has already announced their signing of eight sponsorship deals, mainly from Dutch companies. LeasePlan signed a three year deal on October 5,^[8] followed by RotoZip on October 25, Philoderm on October 31, Trust on November 8,^[9] and Quick on November 22. McGregor signed on December 20, Medion^[10] and Exact Software^[11] signed on January 17 2007. With these they completed GR8 Industries wish to have eight new sponsors for 2007.

On February 1, Spyker signed four test and reserve drivers for the 2007 season: Adrián Vallés, Mohamed Fairuz Fauzy, Giedo van der Garde and Markus Winkelhock.^[12]

In March, Spyker announced a sponsor deal with Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties, two companies from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The official name of the team will be Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team.

On July 10, Albers was released from his Spyker contract, due to a lack of sponsorship money, which would have compromised the team's development programme. Mol described it as "one of the toughest decisions of my career".^[13] Despite former Red Bull Racing driver Christian Klien testing for the team on July 12 2007,^[14] Albers' replacement for the 2007 European Grand Prix was Winkelhock.^[15]

During the 2007 European Grand Prix, Winkelhock became the first driver to lead a Grand Prix in a Spyker, due to the team's clever tyre selection. However, Winkelhock did not keep his race drive as this went to Japanese former Super Aguri driver Sakon Yamamoto.

On August 14, Spyker Cars announced that it may have to sell all or part of the team due to a potential split of the team from its parent company.^[16]

On August 23, the new B-Spec Spyker model, which the team hoped to use at the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix, failed the crucial rear crash test which is set by the FIA. All cars must pass these tests to be allowed to race.^[17] However, A few days later it was confirmed that the car had passed the crash test in time to compete in the Italian Grand Prix.^[18]

On September 3 Indian billionaire Dr Vijay Mallya (Chairman and CEO of Toyota sponsors Kingfisher Airlines) and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol (Spyker’s Formula One Director), stated the Spyker board has accepted their offer and will sign off within a month to become the new owners of the Spyker Formula One team.^[19]

On September 30 at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, the team scored its first championship point. Driver Adrian Sutil finished 9th on the track, but was promoted to 8th place and into the points scoring positions when stewards ruled post-race that Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi had overtaken Sutil under a yellow flag on lap 55; Liuzzi was subsequently given a 25 second penalty and dropping his time to below Sutil's.

The Team has been sold to a consortium named "Orange India" led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol after approval by Spyker's shareholders. Contracts have been signed and Mallya attended the Chinese Grand Prix as team owner. ^[20] The team will be named Force India F1 for the 2008 season.^[21]

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Spyker F1

• Spyker F1 Team Official Website
• Official Spyker F1 Fansite
• Spyker F1 Fansite

Spyker F1
Personnel: Michiel Mol | Colin Kolles | James Key | Mike Gascoyne Current drivers: Adrian Sutil | Sakon Yamamoto | Markus Winkelhock | Adrián Vallés | Giedo van der Garde | Mohamed Fairuz Fauzy | Roldán Rodríguez Formula One cars: F8-VII

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