Originally Posted by shortbread
(Post 4359740)
This includes a name change |
being bought out by a consortium of buyers under the 'Brabham' name. |
Either ways this would be a sad end to a racing team that has been there for more than a decade in the field and has created a reputation for being the most 'bang for buck' in the racing business |
Originally Posted by GTO
(Post 4360041)
I thought this news died out? Any recent reliable links you can share? |
Originally Posted by GTO
(Post 4360041)
I still respect Force India for their achievements on a limited budget. Would say times are actually good for them as they recently announced a factory upgrade. Don't think they are going anywhere. |
Originally Posted by fz_rider
(Post 4363861)
With no branding on the garage, car, as well as race suits, It looks bye bye Force India. |
Originally Posted by condor
(Post 4366617)
Question: Does a team need to be bought over ? Can a team not just drop out - and that "licence" / spot be bid for by an interested entrant ? or is it cheaper to buy out a team ? |
The Montreal weekend had been fairly quiet for news apart from the appearance in the paddock of Michael Andretti, who was obviously up to his neck in negotiating a deal to run Fernando Alonso in Indycars next year. This looks likely to happen, if the money can be found. The whisper is that the team could be sponsored by the telecommunications company Sprint, because McLaren people have strong links with Sprint's new CEO Michel Combes, who use to be a Vodafone executive. He was seen with McLaren at Monaco and at the Detroit IndyCar races last week. He is also a member of McLaren's Business Advisory Group. However, it was clear that this was not Michael's only purpose for being in Montreal, as he was accompanied by his company president J-F Thormann and the familiar figure of Pieter Rossi, father of Andretti driver, Indy 500 winner and sometime F1 driver, Alexander Rossi. You wouldn't need the other two to get a deal with Alonso to race an Andretti-run, McLaren-badged Indycar, so it was obvious that they were also up to other things. Visits to Liberty Media and Force India suggested that they were there to sniff around and see if a deal could be put together to acquire the troubled team. It seems, from multiple sources, that a financial solution is required VERY quickly if Force India is going to avoid getting into financial and legal trouble. Current owners Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy do not have cash available to pay for Formula 1. The best case scenario is that they will sell the team for less than they want (not that they will be getting the money) and will then be able to issue a press release saying that they are happy to pass the team on to the next generation of owners, blah-di-blah. The worst case scenario is that these people will run the team into administration because no-one will pay the price they want. Creditors are getting worried (including Mercedes, which is owed a very considerable sum, north of $20 million). If a sale is not agreed it is inevitable that administration will happen and then someone will swoop in and buy the assets (including the all-important commercial agreement). This is a cheaper option for potential buyers but it means that F1 will get bad publicity and the creditors will only get a few cents on the dollars owed. The option is for Mercedes or Liberty Media to buy the team and flip it to a new owner, although there is no sign of either one taking that kind of a risk. Right now, Vijay and Roy (which sounds like some kind of Las Vegas stage show)*look like a pair of Wile E. Coyotes running off a cliff, still not quite understanding the gravity of the situation… Having an Andretti team in F1 would be a terrific thing as the World Championship seeks to make a bigger impression in the United States. This is a great opportunity as there is a competitive turnkey F1 operation, which would simply require a bit of rebranding, but Andretti and is unlikely to jump in unless he knows what it is going to cost, and that is not going to be certain until we get an answer to the question of the F1 budget cap - and the length of its glide path.* If there are budget limits for F1 teams and a solid date on which these things will happen, then all manner of exciting things can happen, but for the moment, the talk continues. It would probably be better if the talk stopped and actions were taken. That might upset some of the current companies in F1 but it would almost certainly attract others. But speed is now essential of else we may start losing F1 teams that can no longer fly along on empty. And Force India is not the only team in financial peril. Given what is happening at Force India, there are rumours that Mercedes is now considering what to do if Force India crashes and the plan seems to be to transfer Esteban Ocon to Renault, as a replacement for Carlos Sainz (who is a Red Bull driver). Sainz moved to Renault last season because the team wanted a stronger challenge as Jolyon Palmer was struggling to fill the role. Sainz has done well enough to support Nico Hulkenberg, but he has not been beating him enough to turn himself into a must-have driver. Renault has long wanted Ocon (because he is French) and in the past Mercedes has loaned him to them as a reserve driver. Esteban is still the most likely to take over from Lewis Hamilton as and when he retires, but that is likely to be at least another three years. The word is that Sainz has been talking to McLaren, with the goal being to replace Alonso, but the team might prefer to invest in reserve driver Lando Norris. Stoffel Vandoorne's future with the team is yet to be settled, but he has done a decent job against Alonso. |
Originally Posted by sgiitk
(Post 4414427)
All I will agree with is that Force India is a misnomer and a joke. We need a sponsor who can afford to keep it going. With both Sahara(Subroto Roy) and Mallya in worse than the doghouse, how long can it survive. |
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