• Secured pole position at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix
• Second overall in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella at Spa-Francorchamps
• Participated in 13 World Championship Grand Prix
• Driven by Giancarlo Fisichella and Vitantonio Liuzzi

Force India team driver Giancarlo 'Fizi' Fizichella had experienced a tough start to his 2009 Formula 1 racing season. The small and modestly funded British-based team had run Ferrari engines the previous season and a replacement deal to use Mercedes-Benz V8 engines and McLaren 7-speed semi-automatic 'e-shift' gearboxes was struck at very short notice before the beginning of the new season.

But after that trying start to the new year the team appeared re-energised and the VJM02 design proved itself a real contender, Fisichella qualifying on a shock pole position in chassis '04' for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and proving the car's capability by finishing second overall behind Ferrari race winner Kimi Raikonnen.

Now this modern-era Formula 1 Grand Prix car offered here is a well-presented and significant display-specification model, made available direct from the now sensationally well-performing Aston Martin Cognizant team's historic collection. It is visually complete, finished in the Silverstone-based team's contemporary Kingfisher brewery and Whyte & Mackay whisky livery and is a rolling Formula 1 Grand Prix car offered less engine.

It has been preserved and maintained by its original constructor since its current use under the Force India team title during the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship racing series, and is here offered for public sale for the first time ex-works since the former Jordan, Midland and Spyker Force India team was acquired and renamed Racing Point for 2019, and which today has become the current – and increasingly successful - Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 operation.

This particular chassis – serial number '04' - is in the public record as having been introduced by the Force India team for its Italian lead driver Giancarlo Fisichella's use in the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix, round 5 of that year's Formula 1 World Championship race series, held on the Circuit de Catalunya outside Barcelona. 'Fizi' drove the car in eight pinnacle-level Grand Prix races before being invited to join the Ferrari team for the Italian GP at Monza that September. The Italian team's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa had been injured during the Hungarian GP, and Fisichella was drafted in as his replacement alongside Kimi Raikonnen. He was replaced within the Force India-Mercedes team by another young Italian, Vitantonio Lizzi, who then drove chassis '04' in the final five Grand Prix races of the year.

Races contested by Force-India-Ferrari VJM02-04 during 2009 are listed as follows:
Spanish GP, Circuit de Catalunya – Giancarlo Fisichella – q.20th – 14th
Monaco GP, Monte Carlo – Giancarlo Fisichella – q.13th – 9th
Turkish GP, Istanbul – Giancarlo Fisichella – q. 19th – Rtd, 4 laps, brakes
British GP, Silverstone – Giancarlo Fisichella – q. 16th – 10th
German GP, Hockenheimring – Giancarlo Fisichella – q.18th – 11th
Hungarian GP, Budapest – Giancarlo Fisichella – q.16th – 14th
European GP, Valencia, Spain – Giancarlo Fisichella – q.16th – 12th
Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps – Giancarlo Fisichella – POLE - SECOND
Italian GP, Monza – Vitantonio Liuzzi – q.7th – Rtd, driveshaft
Singapore GP, Marina Bay – Vitantonio Liuzzi – q.19th – 14th
Japanese GP, Suzuka – Vitantonio Liuzzi – q.18th – 14th
Brazilian GP, Sao Paulo – Vitantonio Liuzzi – q.20th – 11th
Abu Dhabi GP – Vitantonio Liuzzi – q. 16th – 15th

The VJM02 design was originally conceived under technical director Mike Gascoyne but after his dismissal in 2008 it was re-worked from Ferrari to Mercedes-Benz power and finalised under the direction of engineers James Key and Mark Smith. While the chassis tub form was retained, the change of engine and gearbox dictated body modifications to virtually the entire car. These were completed under the direction of aerodynamics department head Simon Philips. But so late was the model's completion and introduction that its full performance potential was not realised until late in the year.

Despite a vastly reduced staff of c.260, the VJM02s made it onto the starting grid in the opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. However Force India then became the first of the newly dominant Brawn team's rivals to adopt similar double-diffuser aerodynamic devices, and it was on the low-drag circuit at Spa that the VJM02 truly came alive. Fisichella was probably denied victory there in the Belgian GP only by an early safety car intervention. Finding such performance in such demanding circumstances remains something of which all Force India team veterans remain proud today. This interesting show car is a tribute to them, to their utterly committed work against-the-clock, and not least to 'Fizi's memorable drive on that still-majestic circuit in the Belgian Hautes Fagnes hills.... We commend this car to Formula 1 enthusiasts and collectors of the modern era.

Please note that this lot is subject to VAT (at the standard rate) on the Hammer Price.