NEW DELHI — Force India cars will have engines designed and built by Mercedes-Benz for the 2009 Formula One season, marking the first time that the manufacturer will supply engines to a chassis constructor other than McLaren.
“In a long term deal, Force India cars will be powered by engines designed and built by Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines,” Force India said in a statement on Monday.
Force India announced Friday an end to its collaboration with engine supplier Ferrari.
The team also signed a partnership deal with McLaren Applied Technologies.
“McLaren will supply the Force India cars with McLaren Racing gearboxes and hydraulic systems and provide operational support to ensure Force India functions at its highest possible level,” the Force India statement said.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” said Vijay Mallya, chairman of Force India. “McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are two of the most famous names in motorsport history, having achieved superb success in Grand Prix racing over many years, and most recently, a superb victory in probably the most dramatic world championship Formula One has seen.”
Lewis Hamilton won this season’s title by one point over Felipe Massa of Ferrari after the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
Force India also announced that it planned to fit its cars with a kinetic energy recovery system that is currently being developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Racing.
This year was Force India’s first full season in F1, with drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil ending without any points.
“Force India Formula One Team has been in existence for only one year, and inevitably our first season has constituted a learning period,” Mallya said.
“We said at the outset that we meant business and were not interested in merely making up the numbers,” Mallya said. “The announcement of our new technical partnership and new resources clearly underlines that we meant what we said.”
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