Force India’s situation after the takeover

Force India is looking for a brighter and more secure future after the team was rescued by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, father of current Williams driver Lance.

Force India has been on the brink of collapse for several months which also prompted the team to abandon its car development programme. As a result, the team has fallen back in the pecking order over the last weeks. Prior tot h Hungarian Grand Prix, the team was put into administration following the legal action triggered by the Anglo-Indian team’s driver Sergio Perez.

The team founder Vijay Mallya was seemingly furious by that move, but the Mexican driver confirmed he was asked by senior team members to launch a legal action against his own team. It was said to be the only way to save the company after one of its backers filed a legal procedure in the London court to wind up the whole team.

After the team had been put into administration, there were several parties that had expressed interest, including two US consortiums and a British firm.

On 7 August 2018, it was announced Lawrence Stroll, the father of current Williams driver Lance Stroll had purchased Sahara Force India, bringing the team out of administration. The consortium could agree with the joint administrators, appointed by FRP Advisory, to return the team into solvency.

The team’s creditors will be paid in full, all 405 jobs at the team have been saved and ongoing funding has been guaranteed. Among the creditors are Mercedes and Sergio Perez. In the coming weeks, the administrators have to clarify the finer details, including the team’s contract with its suppliers.

The team received some funding immediately with more to come in the coming weeks. It allowed the team to carry on with the car development programme it had to abandon.
Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer confirmed that the technical development was continued, but because of the summer shutdown, the upgrades might only arrive for the Italian Grand Prix.

„There are some components that have been put on hold and I don't know where the suppliers will get to because they don't work over the break.“

The Force India team was established in October 2007 after a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch businessman Michiel Mol acquired the Spyker F1 team for EUR90 million. The Spyker team was the successor of the Midland F1 team which was established from the Jordan team.

After going thorugh 29 races where the team failed to score a championship point, Giancarlo Fisichella won the first points and first ever podium finish for Force India with clinching the second place in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Since then, the team has scored five other podium finishes, all achieved by Sergio Perez.

Currently, the team lies in the sixth place in the Constructors‘ Championship after scoring only 59 points over the first half of the 2018 championship season. Sergio Perez has taken the team’s best result so far during the 2018 season with his third place in Azerbaijan.