Join the Force.....

No, this isn't an advertisement campaign for the newly-formed Force India Formula 1 team. UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya is showcasing how Indian corporates can change the face of sports in the country with his 88-million euro acquisition of Spyker at the end of last season.

With Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan advertising the brand and the team even managing to sign up one of F1's veteran racing drivers in Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, the concept of promoting a national team in F1 looks set to have initiated. The team have retained German driver Adrian Sutil from Spyker.

India has been making rapid strides in this genre of motor racing. Narain Karthikeyan raced for Jordan a couple of seasons back and New Delhi will host an F1 race come 2010. In the end of course, it is going to boil down to how well the team performs on the track. And more importantly, how it stands up to F1 giants like Ferrari & McClaren.

They say any progress is some progress afterall. Let's hope that the team has a fine start and Mallya's VJM01 (the name of the car) can set the track on fire.....