LONDON, ENGLAND - Force India on Monday signed a long-term deal with McLaren Mercedes just days after splitting with engine-supplier Ferrari,

The Silverstone-based Formula One team, owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, have agreed a reported five-year deal with McLaren for the supply of gearboxes, hydraulic systems and Mercedes-built engines.

McLaren will lend operational support and provide the team with the new kinetic engine recovery system (KERS) that is due to be implemented for 2009. The announcement comes three days after Force India ended their two-year deal with Ferrari for the supply of engines 12 months ahead of schedule.

The Scuderia supplied Force India with engines in their debut season but the team failed to score a point with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil as their drivers.

Mallya said: "We are absolutely delighted to be able to announce a technical partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies and Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines.

"These new resources and developments will provide an enormous boost to our technical armoury and, as a result, we have high hopes of making good progress in 2009 and beyond."