This season is the most important yet for one Formula One team in particular: Force India has almost as its raison d’être the promotion of auto racing in its home country.

And it is a pivotal moment — India will hold its first Formula One race on Oct. 30 at the Indian Grand Prix outside Delhi.

One of the men who pushed for the Indian Grand Prix is Vijay Mallya, the owner of Kingfisher Airlines and Kingfisher Beer. As an amateur racing driver in his younger days, Mallya, now 55, decided that the series would be of more interest to his country, not only with a race, but with a national team. So he bought the Spyker team in 2008 and renamed it to reflect its role.

Still, as teams, promoters and drivers have proven many times, for the series to become of interest in a country, a team or driver from the country has to win races and fight for the title. Although Force India has never won races, it has made steady progress over the years and today represents one of the midlevel teams on the grid. In other words, it is a very serious team.