For a season and a half, Force India had nothing to show for its efforts. Then, on one weekend in the Belgian Ardennes, the Indian team came within a second of winning a Grand Prix.
A team with a long past
Force India was born in October 2007, when the Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and the Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol bought the Spyker team for 88 million euros.
The squad was older than its name. It began life as Jordan Grand Prix in 1991, and became Midland and then Spyker before the new owners painted it in India's colours for 2008.
That first season brought no points, and the team finished tenth in the constructors' championship. By the summer of 2009 it had gone 29 races without scoring.
Pole position at Spa
Everything changed at the Belgian Grand Prix on 30 August 2009. On an unpredictable weekend, Giancarlo Fisichella put the Mercedes-powered car on pole position with a lap of 1:46.308.
It was the team's first pole, and Fisichella's first since the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix. Jarno Trulli's Toyota joined him on the front row.
Less than a second from victory
Fisichella led away, while a crash at Les Combes behind him brought out the safety car. Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean and Jaime Alguersuari were all out of the race.
When the safety car came in on lap 5, Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari was right behind. He closed up through Eau Rouge, passed Fisichella on the way into Les Combes and stayed in front.
Fisichella chased him for the rest of the 44 laps and crossed the line 0.939 seconds behind. Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull. It was Ferrari's only win of 2009, and Force India's first points and first podium.
What came next
Days later, Fisichella left Force India to join Ferrari for the rest of the season. Vitantonio Liuzzi took his seat.
Force India grew into a regular points scorer, finishing fourth in the constructors' championship in 2016 and 2017. It scored six podiums in all, five of them by Sergio Perez, who starts his 300th Grand Prix in Mexico this weekend.
The team went into administration during 2018, and a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll took over its assets. The Spa pole remained the only one in Force India's history.
Race it on Late Brake
Spa-Francorchamps is one of six real circuits in the free browser game Late Brake. Try to match Fisichella's weekend: carry speed through Eau Rouge, slipstream up the Kemmel Straight and brake late for Les Combes, then race your own ghost or AI rivals in pursuit of the gold medal time.
Sources: 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, Force India (Wikipedia)