Force India in Driver's Seat in 2015
Force India has been the surprise package of the 2015 season as they pipped Formula One giants McLaren and Lotus to claim their best-ever fifth-place finish in the Constructors' Championship.
Force India continues to be a force to reckon with in Formula One as they celebrated their best-ever fifth-place finish in the 2015 season.
Force India finished above Formula One giants Lotus and McLaren, making it a memorable season for them.
Force India had finished 10th in their maiden season in 2008 and were sixth in 2013 and 2014.
While Lotus ended sixth in the Constructors' Championship, McLaren endured their worst-ever season by finishing ninth in the standings.
After finishing sixth in the previous two seasons, Force India kept faith by retaining Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez from 2014.
The duo had promised to convert their team's faith into better results by starting their 2015 campaign on a right track, finishing sixth and 10th, respectively, at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Perez and Hulkenberg delivered the results as they finished ninth and 10th in the Drivers' Championship.
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Perez's fifth-podium finish
Sergio Perez secured Force India's third-ever podium place in F1 history by finishing third at the Russian Grand Prix.
Force India enjoyed only two podium places before and incidentally the last time also it was Perez who stepped onto the podium for the team at Bahrain Grand Prix in 2014.
The Mexican driver's other three podiums came in 2012 for Sauber Racing Team.
The first-ever podium for the Silverstone-based team was secured by Giancarlo Fisichella, who had finished second in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix from pole position.
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Perez, Hulkenberg retained for 2016
Force India, rightly, decided to retain Hulkenberg and Perez for a third consecutive season in 2016.
Hulkenberg, who had been closely linked with a move to the Haas racing, decided to stay on with Force India when he signed a two-year contract extension with them for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Like the German, Perez too completed the deal for at least another season.
Perez's heart-in-mouth moment
The 2015 season is over and it was filled with many ups and downs, cheers and tears but thankfully no horrific on-track accidents though there were a few close shave moments.
Three days after Jules Bianchi's funeral in July, Perez lost control of his VJM08 during Hungarian Grand Prix practice, hit the barriers and flipped upside down, but was able to walk away unhurt.
While in another incident, Mercedes' star driver Nico Rosberg survived a spectacular high-speed tyre failure during second practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Former world champion Fernando Alonso suffered a 'temporary memory loss' following his accident in testing at Barcelona before the start of the season.
New season, new expectations
With McLaren struggling throughout the season, it is expected that they will bounce back with a bang. The pressure will be on Force India to stranglehold their best-ever fifth spot if not make an upward movement.
There are also speculations that Force India are in talks with a potential tie-up with Astin Martin. But it is yet not clear whether Astin Martin will return to the sport or not.
Both Checo and The Hulk have proved in the previous two seasons that they have the potential to earn important points for their team. Their performance and consistency to finish in top-10 will boost their confidence to make it big in 2016.