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The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the
2007 Formula One World Championship The 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 61st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, which began on 18 March and ended on 21 October after seventeen events. The Drivers' Ch ...
with a Dutch licence. It was created by Spyker Cars after their buyout of the short-lived
Midland F1 Midland F1 Racing (also known as MF1 Racing, or simply "Midland") was a Formula One constructor and racing team which competed in the 2006 Formula One season with drivers Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro. The team was created by the renami ...
(formerly Jordan Grand Prix) team. The change to the Spyker name was accompanied by a switch in racing livery from the red, grey and white previously used by Midland, to an orange and silver scheme—already seen on the Spyker Spyder GT2-R—orange being the
national colour National colours are frequently part of a country's set of national symbols. Many states and nations have formally adopted a set of colours as their official "national colours" while others have ''de facto'' national colours that have become well ...
and the auto racing colour of the Netherlands. At the end of the 2007 season the team was sold and renamed
Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...
. Spyker F1 Team was the second Formula One constructor to represent The Netherlands nationality since Boro Racing that competed in the 1976 and 1977 seasons.


Background

Although created in 2006, the team's roots can be traced back to the year , when it was founded as Jordan Grand Prix. The
Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
-based squad and facilities were bought by the Midland group in 2005 and renamed Midland F1 in 2006, before being sold to Spyker Cars towards the end of the 2006 season. 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 $128 million and that Shnaider was seriously considering the possibility of the sale. Formula One teams had become more valuable because no additional teams could enter after 2008, with the maximum of 12 places already filled. On 9 September 2006, it was revealed that the team was sold to Spyker Cars, a Dutch manufacturer of hand-built cars. Spyker paid $106.6 million for the team. On 10 September,
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
commentators said that both Shnaider and former consultant Johnny Herbert were no longer involved in the team since the announcement of the sale. Former Midland drivers
Christijan Albers Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in Formula One from until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by the Spyker F1 team. In 200 ...
and Tiago Monteiro were retained for the remaining part of the 2006 season, while it was also confirmed at Spyker's debut race in China that Albers would be staying with the successor team for the 2007 season. As part of the purchase of Midland by Spyker, the cars had a revised livery for the final three races of 2006. 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 season

The previous team boss of Midland, Colin Kolles, remained as team principal into 2007. Michiel Mol became the new Director of F1 Racing and member of the Spyker board, and
Mike Gascoyne Michael Robert Gascoyne (born 2 April 1963) is a British Formula One designer and engineer. Gascoyne has worked for numerous Grand Prix teams including McLaren, Sauber, Tyrrell, Jordan (later known as Midland F1, Spyker, Force India, Racing P ...
became Chief Technology Officer from the end of the 2006 season. The team used customer 2006-spec
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
engines in 2007, replacing the Toyota units, which went to the Williams team. Although the team remained based in the UK, it chose to register under the Dutch motor racing authority and therefore run under the Dutch flag during 2007, reflecting its new ownership. For the second race driver, Spyker signed one of their 2006 third drivers, Adrian Sutil, to drive for the team in 2007. The official FIA entry list for 2007 was posted on various websites on 4 December 2006, and on the list the Spyker F1 Team was assigned car numbers 20 and 21, but only
Christijan Albers Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in Formula One from until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by the Spyker F1 team. In 200 ...
' 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 signed four test and reserve drivers for the 2007 season: Adrián Vallés, Fairuz Fauzy, Giedo van der Garde and Markus Winkelhock. In March, Spyker announced a sponsor deal with
Etihad Airways Etihad Airways ( ar, شَرِكَة ٱلْاِتِّحَاد لِلطَّيْرَان, sharikat al-ittiḥād li-ṭ-ṭayarān) is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa ...
and Aldar Properties, two companies from
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...
, United Arab Emirates. The official name of the entrant during the season was Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team. On 10 July, Albers was released from his Spyker contract due to a lack of sponsorship money, which would have funded the team's development programme. Mol described it as "one of the toughest decisions of my career". Despite former Red Bull Racing driver Christian Klien testing for the team on 12 July 2007, Albers' replacement for the 2007 European Grand Prix was Winkelhock. During the 2007 European Grand Prix, Winkelhock became the only driver to lead a Grand Prix in a Spyker, due to the team's tyre selection. However, Winkelhock did not keep his race drive as this went to Sakon Yamamoto. In August, the new B-Spec Spyker model, which the team hoped to use at the
2007 Turkish Grand Prix The 2007 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the 2007 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix) was the twelfth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Won by Felipe Massa, it was held on 26 August 2007 at the Istanbul Park in Tuzla. It ...
, failed the rear crash test which is set by the FIA. All cars must pass these tests to be allowed to race. 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. On 30 September at the
2007 Japanese Grand Prix The 2007 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2007 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 September 2007 at the Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Shizuoka. The 67-lap race was the fifteenth round of the 2007 FIA ...
, the team scored its first and only championship point. 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 that dropped his time below Sutil's. On 14 August, Spyker Cars announced that it might need to sell all or part of the team due to a potential split of the team from its parent company. The team was sold to a consortium named "Orange India" led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur (and existing board member) Michiel Mol after approval by Spyker's shareholders. Mallya attended the Chinese Grand Prix as a team owner. The team was renamed
Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...
for the 2008 season.


Complete Formula One results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (results in bold indicate pole position)


References


External links


Spyker F1 Team Official Website

Official Spyker F1 Fansite
{{Formula One constructors Formula One constructors Formula One entrants Auto racing teams established in 2006 Spyker Dutch auto racing teams Dutch racecar constructors