Hungarian Grand Prix: Force India placed into administration but hope to see out the rest of the season as takeover looms

Lance Stroll’s billionaire father is among five interested parties in launching a takeover bid for the Silverstone-based team, who will still compete in Hungary this weekend

Jack de Menezes
Saturday 28 July 2018 12:04 BST
Comments
(Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Force India have been placed into administration ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the Formula One team look set to continue this season as investment is “imminent”, according to their current chief operating officer.

It’s understood that current driver Sergio Perez partially brought about case as he is owed more than £3m in sponsorship deals, while engine suppliers and current F1 constructors’ championship leaders Mercedes are owed around £11.5m.

Although Force India will see out this weekend’s grand prix at the Hungaroring, a court hearing is scheduled to take place during the summer break that will determine their future.

But The Independent understands that there are five interested parties looking at takeover bids in the coming days, one of which is headed up by Williams driver Lance Stroll’s billionaire father, Lawrence Stroll.

The chances of the current owners being brought out look likely after COO Otmar Szafnauer said on Friday evening that negotiations are already underway.

“I think (investment) is imminent,” Szafnauer said.

“I know there’s discussions going on in the background and I’m not privy to those because it’s a shareholder issue.”

He added earlier this week: “Within a week or at the most two, our financial future will become more clear and I believe much more secure.”

Force India have performed well above their weight in recent seasons, having been limited to a modest budget in comparison to their closest rivals such as Renault and McLaren. Their co-owner, Vijay Mallya, is fighting an attempt by India to extradite him from the United Kingdom to face charges of fraud. A group of Indian banks are looking to recover more than $1bn of loans that were granted to his Kingfisher Airlines business, which no longer exists.

Mallya denies the charges, and has described the case as “a political witchhunt”. The Indian businessman is looking to sell assets worth more than $2m to repay creditors.

Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya has claimed the fraud case against him is a 'political witchhunt'
Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya has claimed the fraud case against him is a 'political witchhunt' (Getty)

But it’s hoped that this will not have a knock-on effect for the F1 team, with Szafnauer admitting that limited financial resources during the European winter months are starting to ease.

“The more money you have in this game, usually the better you do. But hopefully that will be solved soon and we’ll get back to operating in the normal manner that we are used to,” he added. “We are just in this critical period, which might last a week or two. We have to keep our heads down, do the best we can here, go enjoy our break, after the test, and then come back fighting thereafter.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in