2008 Force India VJM01

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 2024

Photo – Bonhams

The Midland F1 team was what Jordan Grand Prix became for the 2006 season. At the end of ’06, they sold out to Spyker, who produced one car for F1: the Spyker F8-VII. During the 2007 season, Spyker was bought by Vijay Mallya, who was going to rename it Force India for 2008.

The first Force India race car chassis were actually slightly updated Spykers from the year before. They built a couple of chassis on their own too, which is what this is, apparently (chassis VJM01-05). It would’ve been powered by a 2.4-liter Ferrari V8 making 750 horsepower. Now it’s just a rolling show car with a Dexter Brown “art car” livery that was created for a 2011 charity auction.

The actual competition history for this chassis consists of:

2008 Australian Grand Prix – 21st, DNF (with Giancarlo Fisichella)

2008 Malaysian Grand Prix – 12th (with Fisichella)

2008 Bahrain Grand Prix – 12th (with Fisichella)

2008 Spanish Grand Prix – 10th (with Fisichella)

2008 Turkish Grand Prix – 20th, DNF (with Fisichella)

2008 French Grand Prix – 18th (with Fisichella)

2008 British Grand Prix – 17th, DNF (with Fisichella)

2008 German Grand Prix – 16th (with Fisichella)

2008 Hungarian Grand Prix – 15th (with Fisichella)

2008 European Grand Prix – 14th (with Fisichella)

2008 Belgian Grand Prix – 17th (with Fisichella)

2008 Italian Grand Prix – 20th, DNF (with Fisichella)

2008 Singapore Grand Prix – 14th (with Fisichella)

2008 Japanese Grand Prix – 16th, DNF (with Fisichella)

2008 Chinese Grand Prix – 17th (with Fisichella)

2008 Brazilian Grand Prix – 18th (with Fisichella)

The estimate here is $100,000-$150,000. Click here for more info.

2007 Spyker F8-V11/Force India VJM01

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | April 16, 2023

Spyker F1 bought out the Midland F1 team late in the 2006 Formula One season. This was a big leap for what was already a struggling boutique road car manufacturer. 2007 would be the team’s only full year running under the Spyker name.

Late in the 2007 season, Vijay Mallya stepped in to buy the financially doomed team, and it would be renamed Force India for 2008. Spyker raced their Ferrari-powered F8-VII (and VIIB) for the season with drivers Adrian Sutil (who scored Spyker’s only championship point) and Christijan Albers. Albers was let go halfway through the year and was replaced by Markus Winkelhock (for one race) and Sakon Yamamoto for the rest.

Force India’s first F1 entry was the VJM01, which was just an updated version of the previous year’s Spyker chassis. So they literally just updated the existing cars and reused them for the season. This particular chassis, VJM01-04, was a Spyker in 2007 and a Force India in 2008. It’s competition history includes:

2007 French Grand Prix – 17th (with Adrian Sutil)
2007 British Grand Prix – 15th (with Christijan Albers)
2007 European Grand Prix – 17th, DNF (with Markus Winkelhock)
2007 Hungarian Grand Prix – 22nd, DNF (with Sakon Yamamoto)
2007 Italian Grand Prix – 20th (with Yamamoto)
2007 Belgian Grand Prix – 17th (with Yamamoto)
2007 Japanese Grand Prix – 12th (with Yamamoto)
2007 Chinese Grand Prix – 17th (with Yamamoto)
2007 Brazilian Grand Prix – 21st, DNF (with Yamamoto)
2008 Monaco Grand Prix – 18th, DNF (with Giancarlo Fisichella)
2008 Canadian Grand Prix – 14th, DNF (with Fisichella)

The highlight there is the 2007 European Grand Prix, one that featured a monsoon that saw a large number of the field end up in the gravel right after the start. Winkelhock pitted for wet tires at the end of the formation lap, a move that led to him leading the race when all hell broke loose. Then it was red-flagged and he lost his advantage, eventually retiring with electrical issues, probably because of the rain. It was Winkelhock’s only F1 start.

In period, this car would’ve had a 2.4-liter Ferrari V8 making about 750 horsepower (for both seasons). Now it’s just a roller with a $100,000-$125,000 estimate. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $70,379.