An Indian Billionaire Turns the Key in Formula One
May 12, 2008 |15:46 | Formula One Drivers | Formula One Gossips | Formula One Races By : Team X
The arrival of the newest and tallest motor homes in the Formula One paddock is an overt statement of intent by the sport’s youngest team, Force India.
As the series arrives in Asia for the Turkish Grand Prix outside Istanbul on Sunday, Force India provides a glimpse into the sport’s future. It is a case study in how to save and revitalize a team, especially in light of last week’s collapse of the financially struggling Super Aguri team from Japan.
Force India’s hospitality suite is airy, easy to move around in and full of smiling team members and visitors.
“I am very proud of my new motor home, but this motor home with a slow car means nothing,” said Vijay Mallya, the Indian billionaire who owns the racing team, as well as Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher beer and other companies. “The car is performing, the motor home is adding to it all, and I think that the message is that on the track and off the track, we are serious in this business.”
The team, then known as Jordan, was third in the series in 1999. It was the last true independent team to win a race the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2003 before it fell on hard times. It was renamed twice more after being sold. Then Mallya bought the team from the Dutch car company Spyker last fall.
“Cricket, which is a religion in India, is for everyone,” Mallya said. “It’s for your staff, for your chauffeur, for your boss, for your maid, for everyone. But there is this breed of youngsters in India who are proud of their success we call them upwardly mobile and aspirational Indians they are earning well, they want to show their wealth, they want to show that they are different.”

Wanted: someone with a minimum of several hundred million dollars and the stomach for a fight. No reward guaranteed.Super Aguri finally succumbed to the disease that has plagued their two-year run in Formula One a lack of funding last week and are now up for sale.
Renny Harlin, director of the 2001 racing drama, “Driven,” points to a couple other reasons, such as financing and a surprisingly tight demographic that prevent more motor racing movies from getting made.
Super Aguri, the first all-Japanese Formula One team, called it quits Tuesday due to financial problems, with founder Aguri Suzuki saying he would never return to the "piranha's" sport.
Since the rod of iron that controlled Formula One was exchanged for a whip, the sport has appeared to be struggling to maintain its image of order. Caught up in the vacuum are the poor Super Aguri team, who are looking for a saviour and may have run their final grand prix in Spain last weekend.
They are an eclectic bunch with two things in common: their wealth and love for Formula One.
As a technical sport motor racing demands of its participants a close understanding of the technologies that can help them. F1 motor racing is probably second only to the aerospace industry in the application of aerodynamic simulation and wind tunnel technology. It is a testament to the rapid advance of Linux in high performance computing that most teams in Formula 1 have been using Linux systems in their aerodynamic and engine workshops for a number of years.
Marcus Ericsson took his maiden British Formula 3 pole position in first qualifying at Croft today.










