Sahara India Pariwar on October 13th purchased 42.5% of Force India’s shares at $US 100 million. As per the agreement signed, Sahara will be issued fresh shares of Watson Limited which owns the team. The team had its origins in the Jordan Grand Prix team entering the circuit in 1991 at Silverstone and was then re-named Midland F1 Racing team before it was sold to Spyker Cars in 2006. Indian business tycoon, Vijay Mallya of United Breweries eventually bought it in 2008 and it was called Force India Formula 1 team. It merged with the Sahara group in October 2011 only to be further renamed as Sahara Force India.
Sahara buys equal stakes in Force India
With just 11 days to go for the Indian Grand Prix to be held at Greater Noida, this was indeed a big move as much is expected of the Indian F1 team come the Indian Grand Prix. The team’s current drivers are Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta with Niko Hulkenberg as the reserve. The team currently stands at sixth position in the Constructor’s Championship which is its best by far. Sahara chairman Subrata Roy has been named the Chairman of the reconstituted team as Vijay Mallya continues to be the Team Principal and Managing Director. Together they make a formidable business combination but it remains to be seen if it will actually take the team to the top position.
Subrata Roy made a statement saying that he looks forward to seeing an Indian driver in the team soon. India has produced two F1 drivers in Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok but the two have never been considered to be a part of Force India and are currently associated with Hispania Racing and Malaysia-based Team Lotus respectively. With an Indian GP and an Indian F1 team, an Indian driver seems to be the only missing link after Narain Karthikeyan failed to live up to his expectations on the F1 circuit. A talent hunt program has been in place to select 10 Indian promising drivers and train them further as part of Force India’s plans.
With the total capital of the team increasing enormously with Sahara’s $100 million investment, Vijay Mallya says that the money will be invested in research and development, technology upgradation and new concepts and innovation which come from time to time like the KERS and wind diffuser. He also added that it will help the team come up to a better position with teams these days losing out on one-hundredths of a second. The new-look Sahara Force India team is likely to make its debut in the Indian Grand Prix on October 30, 2011 and a good performance in that race will give the fans much to cheer about as India hopes to make it big in the Racing circuit!
Tags: F1, Force India, Formula 1, Indian Grand Prix, Karun Chandhok, Narain Karthikeyan, Subrata Roy, Vijay Mallya
