Mercedes Deal Known To Fisichella In September

The Force India-Mercedes deal covers a lot of ground - engines, KERS, hydraulics, gearboxes and drivetrains. Today we discovered that the deal was known to the team weeks before any public announcement was made, thanks to a press release Giancarlo Fisichella issued predominantly concerned with telling us the less-than-surprising news that he is staying with Force India in 2009.

Giancarlo Fisichella has revealed that he knew Force India would be using Mercedes parts in September, because his contract had to be modified in order to allow the arrangement to go ahead.

The contract between Force India and McLaren was announced on November 10, but Fisichella says that the original (presumably internal-only) announcement was made in China. This implies that it was quite difficult for Force India to negotiate a way out of its contract with Ferrari, since it was 19 days between the Chinese Grand Prix and November 7 (the date of Force India declaring it had parted ways with Ferrari).

This explains why there was a lot of rumbling about the possibility of Force India leaving Ferrari for weeks before anything was announced in the press - if the staff knew several weeks beforehand, keeping that sort of news quiet would have been virtually impossible.

He also confirmed for the second time in just over a week that he will be racing in 2009. While it was logical and contractually necessary for Force India to continue with Sutil and Fisichella in the two race seats rather than put anyone different in there, it is good to have confirmation that Vijay Mallya's statement that he was doing precisely that is true*.

The press released finished by looking to the future; "A competitive package, that's all I want and what I have been promised. And that is a very good reason to drive for the team in 2009." Everyone at Force Fans Online hopes that Force India gives that package next year.

* - [url=http://forceindiaf1.com/news.aspx?nid=72276&rt=1]Sutil has also comfirmed that he is staying at Force India[/url] in 2009 in a separate, now nine-day-old press release.