London, June 28: Vijay Mallya, who is being pursued by Indian authorities over unpaid loans tied to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, has taken steps that could see India disappear from the name of his Formula One (F1) team.
Mallya was quoted June 14 as saying he was considering changing the name of the Silverstone-based team to make it more attractive to potential sponsors and give it more of an ‘international flavour’.
“There are some people who believe the current name Force India is restrictive psychologically,” he was quoted as saying by Motorsport.com Wednesday. “I’m considering along with the other shareholders what steps to take but it’s a major decision and one that is not going to be taken in a hurry without due consideration.”
India has accused Mallya of fraud and is seeking the 61-year-old’s extradition after he fled to Britain in March last year.
Mallya attended only one F1 race last year – the British Grand Prix. He however said that there were no plans to sell the team.
Any application for a name change would have to be approved by the governing FIA and other teams through the Formula One Commission.
“Force India was born out of Vijay owning the team,” COO Otmar Szafnauer said Wednesday.
“Since then we’ve lost the Grand Prix there (in India), the Indian sponsors no longer were interested in sponsoring us. Now we have no Indian sponsors whatsoever, apart from Vijay’s Kingfisher. So it kind of makes sense to change it from India in order to attract sponsors more globally, and not restrict ourselves to being Force India,” he added. Reuters
