Monday 10 November at 17:58 : Nov.10 (GMM) Force India on Monday announced it has entered a technical partnership with fellow formula one entrant McLaren-Mercedes

The Silverstone based team said it will be powered by Mercedes-Benz engines next year, as well as use McLaren suppliers, gearboxes, hydraulics and KERS systems

McLaren will also "provide operational support to ensure Force India functions at its highest possible level", according to a statement

"We said at the outset that we meant business and were not interested in merely making up the numbers. The announcement of our new technical partnership clearly underlines that we meant what we said," said team principal and co-owner Vijay Mallya

The Indian billionaire said the deal was personally assisted by F1 powerbrokers Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley

Powered by customer Ferrari engines, Force India was the only team that failed to score a single point in 2008