Force India has announced the first in a series of developments to aid the team in its campaign to reach the upper echelons of Formula One, confirming that it has extended its technical partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies until the end of the 2012 season.

From 2009, Force India has enjoyed a successful relationship with McLaren, which has supplied gearboxes and hydraulics. Over the same period Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines has also supplied its rV8 engine, effectively giving Force India the same drivetrain as the McLaren team, which secured five wins in the 2010 championship.

Responsibility for the development of the Force India 2011 challenger, the VJM04, and subsequent cars will be taken by newly-appointed technical director, Andrew Green, who steps up from his current role as director of engineering.

Green has over 20 years of top level motor racing experience including F1, F3000 and F3. He commenced his motorsport career in 1987 as a designer with Reynard Cars and was part of the small group of design engineers who started Jordan GP in 1990. After working his way up the company in positions within test and race engineering, Andrew joined British American Racing in 1998 as head of mechanical design. After four years with the company he moved on to become head of R&D at Red Bull Technology in 2004 and then rejoined Force India in July 2010.

"I am very pleased to formally confirm Andrew will step up to become the team's technical director," said Vijay Mallya. "He knows the team inside out, both from his previous tenure with the team and through his position this year. I am also delighted to be able to give Andrew and his team the stability and opportunity to take us forward with the extension to the McLaren Applied Technologies contract.

"The partnership with McLaren and Mercedes has matured into one of the most successful relationships on the grid. In 2009 we scored 13 points, one pole position and one podium and in 2010 we secured our highest-ever championship position and 68 points overall. I've always said I would like to see a Force India on the podium at the Indian GP and I believe we have the resources, both human and technical, to do it."

"I'm delighted that we've been able to extend the programme of co-operation between McLaren Applied Technologies and Force India," added Martin Whitmarsh. "Force India has continued to develop as a team during the 2010 season, and to improve year on year its competitive position, and we're pleased that McLaren Applied Technologies has played a key part in that performance."