Sahara Force India will not change its name in 2016
While some were already expecting Sahara Force India to take on the name Aston Martin as early as next season, the team ultimately admitted that it would retain its name at least for the upcoming season.
Sahara Force India remains on the best season in its history, finishing in fifth place in the championship. This performance was achieved despite their true 2016 car only arriving at Silverstone. This improvement allowed them to achieve a superb series of results at the end of the season, with Sergio Perez’s podium in Sochi being the highlight.
But his two co-owners, Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy, are facing significant financial and legal troubles. The latter has been detained in India since March 2014 due to non-repayments made to investors who felt wronged. As for Vijay Mallya, the bankruptcy of his airline, Kingfisher Airlines, forced him to give up part of his liquor empire.
Under these conditions, the team appears to be an ideal target since its sporting results guarantee it a significant financial contribution from the FOM and a place in the F1 Strategy Group. This is how discussions with Aston Martin began. The envisioned plan was for the British manufacturer to lend its name to the team or its engine, based on the fact that Mercedes is a 5% shareholder in James Bond’s preferred brand.
Nevertheless, the months passed and no official announcement came to substantiate these discussions. On the occasion of the famous show organized by Autosport in Birmingham, Otmar Szafnauer, the team’s operational manager, acknowledged that there should be no change in the short term: « The discussions continue. I don’t think it will happen in 2016, but you never know what the future holds. The door is not closed, but for 2016, we will keep the name Force India. »
The team can now focus on trying to continue its momentum from the end of the season. Nico Hülkenberg even believes that the reduction in the number of winter tests, from twelve to eight days, is a great opportunity since it will limit the possibilities for improvement among his competitors, as he stated to the official F1 website: “Fewer tests mean more opportunities in the first races if we are better prepared than the others and maintain the momentum of 2015. In the end, everyone will only have eight days, and we all have to deal with that.”
The young German can therefore seriously hope to finally stand on his first F1 podium.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
