03:43 Jimboyrulez
In 2019 Force India wasn't seen at the starting grid and it was because Vijay Mallya, the previous owner was and is in deep trouble over defaulting loans in India and the Team went into administration in mid-2018.
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Lance (left) & Lawrence (right)
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The team eventually sold to the father of an F1 driver, Lance Stroll. Lawrence Stroll who not only bought his son a seat but the whole F1 team (to make his son's F1 career) leads a group of investors. So buying the team was not a big deal for Lawrence backed by the investors. The team entered as Racing Point F1 Team for 2019, with Lance and Sergio Perez along with him. They got a spectacular team for a bargain and a head start for Lance where he didn't have to start his career at the back of the pack.
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Spyker F1
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But the story of this team begins in 2007 when Vijay Mallya bought the 'Spyker F1 Team' for approximately 90 Million Euros. He rebranded it 'Force India F1 Team' as he wanted it to be the pride of India. But money alone doesn't solve the problems in F1. Obviously one has to pour the money in but it does require additional blood sweat and tears to bring a team finishing last up the order, to be noticed. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes years of hard work and determination. Which is not visible on tv, once every two weeks, in an hour race.
People often say "To make a small fortune in Formula1 you have to start with a big one" I guess Mallya did just that.
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| Michiel Mol (left), Vijay Mallys (middle) and Jan Mol (right)
with VJM01 |
The team entered the 2008 F1 world championship in the same flamboyant manner as Mallya himself. Mallya over the next decade showed the most glamorous Formula1 how to party. Mallya threw some of the best parties on his 312ft yacht ‘The Indian Empress’ in Monte Carlo, after all, he is known as 'King of Good Times' for a reason.
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Narain Kartikeyan (left) Karun Chandhok (right)
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There was excitement because an Indian had never owned an F1 team before. Mallya showed the motorsport world an image of a new rich and flamboyant India. Moreover, for a brief moment, there were hopes of Force India giving Narain Karthikeyan an opportunity as he had run one season with Jordan Team in 2005 and Karun Chandhok an opportunity because he was good and was Mallya's friend's son. Neither drove for Force India.
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| Eddie Jordan (left) parties with Vijay Mallya (right)
on board his 312ft Yacht , 'The Indian Empress' |
Vijay wasn't going to take chances especially considering the history of the team where it seemed like the team was Jinxed. I say that because the team has had a history of changing hands. Eddie Jordan owner of Jordan team sold the team to Midland Group in 2005. Midland group competed in 2005 under the Jordan banner. In 2006 the team competed as MidlandF1 racing but it never reached the middle turf as it always finished last. So it again sold and the new owners were the Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker. It was Spyker F1 team for 2007 season but it remained the same and stood last consistently if they managed to finish the race. Spykar sold the team to Mallya at the end of 2007. Force India's first car for the 2008 season was called VJM01.
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| Force India team celebrating winning the
sky sports F1 trophy for fastest Pitstop |
It was only natural if the world was sceptical about how things would work out. But Mallya proved the world wrong as the team grew from strength to strength, inch by inch and became a serious midfield competitor. As a constructor, they have triumphed over teams like Williams F1 team, Mclaren, Renault amongst others. And these are teams with more or less an unlimited budget. They achieved fourth in the constructor's championship in 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Force India, on the other hand, had limited budgets. They made maximum use of the money spent. They definitely did not have the budgets like Ferrari or Mclaren. Mallya made sure and was appreciated and recognised by other teams for his efficient operations. Their strategy of starting with a simpler car and upgrading as the season progressed worked.
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| Adrian Sutil (left) Tonio Liuzzi (middle)
and Giancarlo Fisichella (right) |
In their first season (2008) they retained Sutil from the Spyker team and got the more experienced Fishichalla whose experience and feedback would help build the team. In 2008 Mallya didn't really put a high target to achieve and wanted to get things in order. Although, Sutil came very close to scoring points at Monaco Grandprix in the rain, but an incident with Kimi drowned those dreams.
In 2009 Mallya struck a deal with Mercedes and swapped the Ferrari engines with Mercedes engines. The biggest achievement of the season was Fisichella on pole at Belgian Grand Prix and finishing second behind Kimi. Definitely, Progress compared to 2008.
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| Fisichella with Trophy at Belgian GP |
In 2009 Fisichella moved to Ferrari and Vitantonio Liuzzi took his place.
Sutil and Liuzzi drove for the team in the 2010 Season and they showed consistent and good results for the team earning the team 68 points and they stood 7th in the constructor's championship. They were no longer the team that stood last.
In 2011 Paul Di Resta replaced Liuzzi and Force India Progress to the 6th place in the constructor's title.
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| De Resta (Left) Hulkenberg (Right) and VJM01 (Bottom) |
For the 2012 Nico Hulkenberg Joined Di Resta. Mallya got Sahara to invest and pick up stake in the Team. The team came close to making it to the podium on several occasions. But Force India finished 7th in the Constructors championship. This was the first time over the years where the team didn't achieve positive progress. Changes needed to be made.
So they brought Sutil back in Force India for 2013 who partnered with Di Resta. The team was manoeuvred back on track and they clenched sixth among the constructors. They were now considered a consistent midfield team. But they had not triumphed.
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| VJM07 with Sergio Perez (Left) &
Nico Hulkenberg (Right) Formula One Testing,
Jerez, Spain, Day One, Tuesday, 28 January 2014 |
2014 brought a lot of changes to F1 technical regulations. This brought a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine over the 2.4 litre naturally aspirated one. Force India did a good job adapting the changes rather quickly with their limited resources. And Vijay Mallya's drivers were achieving the goals which kept the sponsors happy and the lavish parties were like icing on the cake. But 2014 was going to be difficult with an all-new driver line up. Sergio Perez and returning Hulkenberg made the team. The biggest achievement was Perez on the podium at Bahrain Grand Prix. With several 5th and 6th places by the drivers, Force India stood 6th once again on the constructor's table.
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| VJM08 with Sergio Perez (Left)
and Nico Hulkenberg (right) |
In 2015 before the championship Force India showed up at testing with their 2014 car and at another testing with a modified previous-gen car. This wasn't looking good. The delay in developing the new car was because they were switching to Toyota's cologne based wind tunnel in Germany. This was going to allow them to use 60% scale models as opposed to the 50% scale they had been using with their old tunnel. So the start of 2015 season could have been much better but the results improved dramatically in the second half of season with their B-Spec car. Highest achievement was Perez on the podium in Russia. And Force India that looked like it was struggling picked up the pace in the second half of the season and stood a strong 5th in the constructor's championship.
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| VJM09 with Sergio Perez (Left)
and Nico Hulkenberg (right) |
2016 didn't see any change in the driver line up. Perez stood third twice and Hulkenberg brought home valuable points as well helping Force India achieve 4th place in the championship. Force India was the sponsor's dream team. They made awesome progress year after year consistently.
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| VJM10 driven by Sergio Perez at Albert Park, Australia |
Frenchman Esteban Ocon replaced Hulkenberg in 2017. Perez and Esteban continued the hustle and beat teams like Torro Rosso, Haas, Mclaren, Williams, Renault and Sauber. Force India finished 4th in the championship again.
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| VJM11 driven by Sergio Perez at Monaco GP |
In 2018 Force India was now ready to gear up and compete with the big boys on the front of the grid but the news of Mallya in deep trouble over defaulting of loans in India broke lose. Additional news accused Mally of Money laundering charges. Mallya Absconded from India and never showed up for trial in India. The very promising Force India F1 team went into administration. A group of Businessmen led by Lawrence Stroll bought the assets of the team and changed the name to Racing Point Force India.
But Lawrence Stroll was no Vijay Mallya. Despite the team scoring 59 points before Spa, the team scored 7th place in the championship.
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| Mallya posing for a picture in front
of one of Kingfisher Airline planes |
So let's take a deeper dive in what really happened in 2018. While Force India was on an upward graph, enjoying a successful stint, things were getting worse for Mallya. Whilst Sahara Group has stopped playing a management role a while ago there were rumours of no money flowing in too. Mallya still was responsible for all major decisions being the majority stakeholder of the team. But Mallya's troubles were on the rise with financial and legal battles arising out of his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. At this point, Mallya absconded from India to England. At this point normally Indian banks come to a settlement amount and negotiation takes place as they want to recover whatever they can. But 1. Mallya's loans were big 2. Mallya was a politician. Neither the banks or the government was ready to help. No settlement opportunity was offered to Mallya. This was something Mallya didn't expect. Banks along with the government of India started extradition proceedings to recover $1 billion in loans given to Kingfisher Airlines on Mallya's personal guarantee. While in the midst of this, He lost hold of his Unites Spirits Empire to Diageo. At the same time, Heineken started buying the stock of United breweries and increased its shareholdings.
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| Mallya outside Westminister Magistrates Court surrounded by reporters. |
This mammoth of a sandstorm was sooner rather than later blow over Force India. But no one expected the Indian Banks or the government to pursue the money from Mallya the way they did. It took F1 by a little bit of a surprise because Mallya seemed calm and relaxed on the grid till it actually happened and the team went into administration. Mallya who was known to grab the bull by its horns was now taking things as they came as he was no longer in control of the situation as problems were erupting from every direction. The team started the 2018 season on the back foot (same as always) and improved its way up the pack in the first half. Now financial difficulties were being evident to the team as well. This was now delaying the development of the new upgrades. A petition was started by a supplier and Perez who were owed millions in unpaid dues. This put the team under administration in a bid to rescue it. The team, including drivers, felt that they needed new investment which was just not possible with Mallya. This panned out with a consortium led by Williams F1 driver Lance and his father Lawrence Stroll acquiring the team and adding Racing Point in the front of the name. So Force India was known as Racing Point Force India for the remaining season and later as Just Racing Point. Lawrence wanted to purchase the team outright and buy Force India's entry but this agreement would have required approval from banks that Mallya owed money to. Therefore only assets were purchased by Racing Point. Force India was a very promising team and enjoyed a successful tenure of ten years. Force India and Mallya commanded presence like no other.
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| Racing Point F1 team with Lawrence Stroll (middle) |
Racing Point Stood 7th in the constructor's championship in 2019 too. 2019 was the first whole year without Vijay Mallya. It was painful to see Force India disappear from Formula1. It was as painful as seeing Eddie Jordan sell-off Jordan Racing Team.
Vijay Mallya's assets including his mansions, his Yacht and his cars were all auctioned off. Mallya is still is battling in the British courts, not to be extradited. British courts are not in a rush because sending Mallya back means losing 1Billion GBP from their own economy.
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