Force India headed for a name change
They say ‘what’s in a name’ but when it comes to Sahara Force India it’s all in the name.
Indian industrialist Vijay Mallya made his first foray into Formula One back in 2008 when he took over the Spyker F1 team and renamed it Force India. The last eight seasons, the team has been on the F1 grid with Sahara India coming on board later by buying 42.5 per cent stake. The team was renamed Sahara Force India in October 2011. However, the name ‘Force India’ and its two Indian owners are the only Indian connect to the F1 team.
The team is based out of Silverstone in the United Kingdom, it’s entire team is either British or European and they have never hired an Indian driver to represent them so far. Now, the team is all set to lose it’s biggest Indian connection -it’s title -with Mallya already in advanced talks with Aston Martin in a rebranding process.
“Yes, discussions are on with Aston Martin. There is excitement on both sides,” Mallya said at the Mexican Grand Prix. “But it still has to go through due process before we agree and shake hands on a concept, whatever that concept may be… We have not exchanged anything in terms of an outline or draft contracts. This is a sort of tripartite discussion that is going on which involves Diageo with its Johnnie Walker brand as well.”
Diageo, which bought Mallya’s United Spirits Limited (USL) in 2013, is one of the major parties involved in this deal. According to sources close to the deal, Diageo is keen on F1 sponsorship with one of its biggest products Johnnie Walker, which currently sponsors McLaren team. The struggles of McLaren-Honda this sea son-they are languishing in ninth place this year -has meant Johnnie Walker is in search of a ‘better team and Force India seems to be its best option at the moment.
It is understood that Diageo has agreed to sponsor Mallya’s F1 team on the condition that it rebrands itself to Aston Martin. Diageo’s product Smirnoff already sponsors Force India but Johnnie Walker will only come on board if the team’s name is changed. Mallya himself is keen on refinancing his team with Subroto Roy still languishing in jail.
“The team was only Indian because of its name. Apart from that there is nothing Indian about it. I makes sense for them to rebrand themselves as Aston Martin, who are themselves based just 500m away from Force India’s headquarters,” former F1 driver Karun Chandhok told TOI from London.
“I named the team Force India only to give India and all of the motorsport fans in my country pride o place on a Formula One grid,” Mallya says. “They’ve enjoyed that for eight years and now they know this team is synonymous (with them and will still be an entry from India flying the Indian flag. So what name we run under is not as critically important as it was for the first three or four years.”
SOURCE: PTI
It is unlikely that British luxury brand Aston Martin, which synonymous with the ‘James Bond franchise, owned by Italian private equity firm Invest Industrial, will buy out Mallya’s stake in the F1 team. “I think it is only going to be a sponsorship deal. Aston Martin is not a company flush with funds and they will not be able to compete with budgets of Mercedes and Ferrari,” said a source close to the development.