Spyker F8-VII

Sutil driving the F8-VIIB at the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.

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 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."[1]

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 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.

B Specification car

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.[3] Adrian Sutil subsequently scored Spyker's one and only point in the Japanese Grand Prix at the wheel of the F8-VIIB.[4]

Christijan Albers driving the F8-VII at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil testing for Force India in January 2008.

Giancarlo Fisichella driving at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.

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.[5] The team continued to use 2007-specification Ferrari engines due to cost reasons. Although 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India ended the season at the bottom of the Constructors' Championship standings, only ahead of Super Aguri which had withdrawn from the championship after four races.[6]

In 2011, Force India teamed up with the artist Dexter Brown to produce an art car. The car was a hand painted VJM01 which 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.[7]

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Points	WCC
2007	Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team	F8-VII	Ferrari V8	B		AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	EUR	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA		1	10th
					Adrian Sutil	17	Ret	15	13	Ret	Ret	14	17	Ret	Ret	17	21
					Christijan Albers	Ret	Ret	14	14	19	Ret	15	Ret	15
					Markus Winkelhock										Ret
					Sakon Yamamoto											Ret	20
		F8-VIIB			Adrian Sutil													19	14	8	Ret	Ret
					Sakon Yamamoto													20	17	12	17	Ret
2008	Force India F1 Team	VJM01	Ferrari V8	B		AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	TUR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	CHN	BRA	0	10th
					Adrian Sutil	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	13	19	Ret	Ret	Ret	16
					Giancarlo Fisichella	Ret	12	12	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	18	Ret	14	15	14	17	Ret	14	Ret	17	18

^B B-spec. car was used.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spyker F8-VII.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Force India VJM01.

• Full list of F8-VII Technical Specifications