Vijay Mallya on Force India

Force India’s F1 team chairman Vijay Mallya (centre) poses with Bollywood actresses Lara Dutta (left), Sameera Reddy (2nd left), Shilpa Shetty (2nd right) and Shamita Shetty during the launch function for the team’s new car for 2008 in Mumbai.


Not even the drivers expect to win race this season but the new Force India team will not be lacking in support when the Formula One season opens in Melbourne next week.

Millions of Indians, home and abroad, will cheer Force India’s gold, tungsten and white cars race past the chequered flag at Albert Park, judging by the media build up in the run up to its debut season.

Bankrolled by beer-to-airlines tycoon Vijay Mallya, this repackaged version of the Ferrari-powered former Spyker team is injecting patriotism to fire up India’s cricket-obsessed public in an unfamiliar sport.

“No one believed India would have a Formula One team but we are there,” the flamboyant billionaire Mallya said during the team’s launch in January.

“I feel proud that an Indian has put its flag on the F1 circuit,” Mallya added, pointing to the white, saffron and green of the Indian tricolour in the team’s logo.

India became hooked on Formula One when home-grown Narain Karthikeyan raced for Jordan in 2005 and test drove with Williams over the past two years. Compatriat Karun Chandhok test drove with Red Bull.

The sport’s commercial rights’ owner Bernie Ecclestone is convinced Formula One’s fi nancial future lies in India and China in the form of untapped advertising revenues from large TV audiences.

India has been provisionally granted a race in 2010 provided the promoters, the Indian Olympic Association, meet the stuatory requirements – like building an expensive race track. Television currently reaches around 110 million Indian homes. While cable and satellite are quickly adding to the number, half of India’s population is under 25, a goldmine for advertisers.

And Mallya has set a target of 2012 for an Indian Formula One driver to be spraying champagne after a race and is identifying talent in India to be handpicked for training in Malaysia and France.

An Indian driver would clearly help further Mallya’s and Ecclestone’s cause. “No Indian fi ts the bill yet,” Mallya said, explaining why he hired Italian Giancarlo Fisichella – a veteran of 196 Grand Prix – and German rookie Adrian Sutil to power his US$120 million adventure this season. – AFP

Source: The Sun 06 March 2008