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22-412: The F8-VII was the only car constructed by Spyker F1 in their own right after their take-over from the struggling Midland F1 team part way through 2006. The F8-VII was described by the team as a solid base on which to build, as they had a relatively short period of time to produce the new F1 car. James Key , the technical director of Spyker F1, said, "We also tried to second guess as best we could what

44-422: 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 and Aldar Properties , two companies from Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates . The official name of

66-534: 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 commentators said that both Shnaider and former consultant Johnny Herbert were no longer involved in

88-479: 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

110-616: 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 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

132-409: 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 , failed the rear crash test which

154-532: The 2007 Formula One World Championship with a Dutch licence . It was created by Spyker Cars after their buyout of the short-lived Midland F1 (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

176-603: The Japanese Grand Prix at the wheel of the F8-VIIB. Spyker was bought by Vijay Mallya during 2007 and became Force India for 2008 . With initial 2008 testing being carried out in reliveried F8-VIIBs, the definitive version of the Force India VJM01 – still largely based on the F8-VIIB – made its testing debut on February 25, 2008. The team continued to use 2007-specification Ferrari engines due to cost reasons. Although

198-518: The national colour and the auto racing colour of the Netherlands . At the end of the 2007 season, the team was sold to Vijay Mallya and renamed Force India . Spyker F1 Team was only the second Formula One constructor to represent the Netherlands after Boro Racing that competed in the 1976 and 1977 seasons. Although created in 2006, the team's roots can be traced back to the year 1991 , when it

220-537: The 2007 tyres were going to do, and we worked hard on aero, which is of course always the fundamental thing. That way we could concentrate all our efforts on performance related areas." The car was not competitive and scored only one point. Remarkably for an unsuccessful car, in his only ever race, Marcus Winkelhock started last at the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring but after getting his tactics right at

242-636: The end of the 2006 season. The team used customer 2006-spec Ferrari 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

SECTION 10

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264-403: 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

286-594: The first modern line of Spykers, the C8 Spyder, we called it the C line to follow on from the original model rationale," he explained. "The E line will be launched in the near future, so it makes sense for our Formula One car, our latest model, to be the F line." The number eight refers to the number of cylinders of Spyker's Ferrari engine – the same rationale as used with road-going Spykers. The VII (7) sub-designation refers to Spyker's days as an aircraft manufacturer where all models were denoted by Roman numerals and stood for

308-479: The start of the wet race (by changing tyres after the warm up lap), Winkelhock found himself leading the race with a 33-second lead after just two laps due to most of the field either pitting for wet tyres or spinning off. The race was stopped due to the dangerous conditions. Winkelhock officially led the race for 7 laps but as the conditions improved following the restart, he slid down the field in his uncompetitive car and eventually retired after 15 laps. Going against

330-454: 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. 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 became Chief Technology Officer from

352-523: The team came close to a fourth-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix , points were not forthcoming, and Force India ended the season at the bottom of the Constructors' Championship standings, only ahead of Super Aguri which had withdrawn from the championship after four races. In 2011, Force India teamed up with the artist Dexter Brown to produce an art car. The car was a hand painted VJM01 which

374-484: 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 ' 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

396-474: The team since the announcement of the sale. Former Midland drivers Christijan Albers 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

418-433: The trend originally started by Jordan Grand Prix and continued by Midland F1, the new car's naming designation relates directly to Spyker's heritage as a car and aircraft manufacturer. When the Dutch company started trading at the beginning of the 20th century it launched car models named A, B and C. When Spyker CEO Victor Muller resurrected the Spyker name in 2000 he wanted to build on that strong history. "When we launched

440-528: The year the aircraft was launched. Hence the F8-VII is the Spyker F line with eight cylinders in 2007. A "B Specification" car was launched midway into the 2007 season. The F8-VIIB's debut was initially planned for the Turkish Grand Prix , but was delayed to the Italian Grand Prix after the car failed the mandatory FIA crash testing programme. Adrian Sutil subsequently scored Spyker's one and only point in

462-488: Was founded as Jordan Grand Prix . The Silverstone -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

SECTION 20

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484-482: Was set to be auctioned for charity at the first Indian Grand Prix . The actual car used was VJM01-05, as raced by Giancarlo Fisichella in sixteen of the eighteen races in 2008. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position) B-spec. car was used. Spyker F1 The Spyker F1 Team , known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in

#293706