Force India Enter Administration

[Paul Jeffrey]

Force India have announced they have entered administration, however the team will continue to participate in this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix.

In a statement to Formula1.com, Force India said “specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory LLP were appointed Joint Administrators of Force India Formula One Team Limited” on Friday.

Joint Administrator Geoff Rowley said: “We shall be engaging with key stakeholders on an urgent basis to secure the best outcome for creditors.​

“In the meantime, the team will continue to operate as normal, including racing in Hungary this weekend. Our aim is for business as usual whilst we assess options to secure the future of the team.”​

Force India have been courting potential buyers for a number of years now, essentially having entered a period of financial difficulty thanks to increased legal pressure on team owner Vijay Mallya back home in India, helped little by Mallya's reported reluctance to release his hold on the Silverstone based team.

With the High Court ruling in London yesterday forcing a decision to sell out of the flamboyant Indian's hands, Force India are now effectively very much on the market for new investors, potentially driving down the price of the team as it looks to find ways to stay afloat and continue in Grand Prix racing for the remainder of the season and beyond.

"The company is now in administration and the administrator will be looking at potential buyers," Force India's Bob Fernley told Autosport.

"And hopefully one of those buyers will be able to fulfil the ambitions of the team, which is to take it from where it is today, which I think is a podium-opportunity team, into a podium-on-merit team.

"Interested buyers will lodge their interest with FRP, and FRP will now evaluate the business case for any of the potential buyers.

"From that I'm sure there will be a process which will involve Mercedes and F1 Group to determine the most appropriate buyer for Force India.

"The decision now is FRP's in terms of who is selected, but I think there are a number of quality investor groups that are willing to come in and take this team to the next level, and the team deserves it."

"There has to be investment in the team," said Fernley. "The team is now basically hitting the buffers in terms of its assets that it has today.​

"In order to go forward to become a team of podium merit, then it also has to have investment, and it is what will be required as part of the process of looking at the new owners."​

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[Nick Hill]

Ouch, that sucks - hopefully they can pull through it. This has been a rough year, but the previous few seasons they have been fun to watch as the little team that could.

Let's face it, in F1 you are either one of the big money legitimate challengers, or you are there pretty much as background color (with a secondary role as a holding area for new driver talent until if/when one of the big boy teams decides to poach/promote). Upwards mobility is totally possible, but not without the committed backing of a major corporate entity. It would be nice if that weren't the case, but I would love to hear a practical solution to the problem (cuz I got nothing).

 

[Matt Y]

Inb4 no one buys Force India, the team goes belly up and F1 is cancelled due to a lack of entrants.

 

[CC]

I hope they all go into administration then we might finally get racing like F2 fun to watch!

 

[wombat999]

Sad as they've always punched above their weight.
That said, if one looks at where the team came from in the first place it's in their DNA.
No idea if they can or will recover, the volume of money required to enter F1 as a mid runner is pretty eye watering, let alone the cost of approaching the front of the field.

 

[jimortality]

So......... If you were to win the lottery, how much would you need to buy and run the team?

 

[wombat999]

So......... If you were to win the lottery, how much would you need to buy and run the team?

More than you'd win!

 

[jimortality]

More than you'd win!

So, If I won 180 Million GBP, how many years would that get me?

 

[wombat999]

In all seriousness once the current creditors are paid out, along with any other hidden debts, IMHO you'd get around six months or so, and that would probably be with a couple of spear carriers in the cars or maybe a couple of pay drivers.
"How do you make a small fortune in Formula 1?
Start off with a very large one!"

 

[jimortality]

In all seriousness once the current creditors are paid out, along with any other hidden debts, IMHO you'd get around six months or so, and that would probably be with a couple of spear carriers in the cars or maybe a couple of pay drivers.
"How do you make a small fortune in Formula 1?
Start off with a very large one!"

I was hoping 40 mill a year would cover it

 

[Andrew Harper]

I was hoping 40 mill a year would cover it

Well in comparison. £40 million a year I believe was Porsche's year budget for the 919 program and that is less than a midfield F1 team.

Sad news though. We we all discussing Williams and Force India being the only real customer teams left in F1 and now we've lost another one. In a way these are sad times.

 

[jimortality]

Well in comparison. £40 million a year I believe was Porche's year budget for the 919 program and that is less than a midfield F1 team.

Crikey, when I win 180 mill then I'll probably not invest in f1 lol

 

[Andrew Harper]

Crikey, when I win 180 mill then I'll probably not invest in f1 lol

Yeah it is nuts. Trouble is there is this constant battle to reduce costs and then a constant battle by the top teams to keep it the way it is.

Liberty need to get this under control otherwise we will end up with a grid of a dozen cars in a few years.

 

[farjam]

Crikey, when I win 180 mill then I'll probably not invest in f1 lol

If you need an agent to help you find the worst way to spend the money , call me

 

[Terry Rock]

Always wondered...given the known financial struggle, why FI did not sell the team after it's high standing in the Constructor's Championship a few seasons ago.
They could have gotten top dollar then as 'best of the rest'
At this point they'll get little for the team and its assets.
Maybe, the Holding company kept it as some type of tax 'write-off' for its other businesses.

 

[juluka]

Ouch, that sucks - hopefully they can pull through it. This has been a rough year, but the previous few seasons they have been fun to watch as the little team that could.

Let's face it, in F1 you are either one of the big money legitimate challengers, or you are there pretty much as background color (with a secondary role as a holding area for new driver talent until if/when one of the big boy teams decides to poach/promote). Upwards mobility is totally possible, but not without the committed backing of a major corporate entity. It would be nice if that weren't the case, but I would love to hear a practical solution to the problem (cuz I got nothing).

Right on...and it is a shame that the many recent years of exclusivity and high costs of "membership" unrelated to general operations of a team, have chased away many of the other large auto manufacturers and developers that could use F1 as a proving ground for their products...

 

[wombat999]

I was hoping 40 mill a year would cover it

You do realise that Hamilton's new contract is for the amount per year?
Obscene!

 

[Andrew Harper]

You do realise that Hamilton's new contract is for the amount per year?
Obscene!

Want to point out firstly that I have no issues with Lewis but yeah when you think that Bottas does the lion share of the promotional work, publicity events as well.

Anyway I don't want to go off topic. Haha.

 

[jimortality]

You do realise that Hamilton's new contract is for the amount per year?
Obscene!

Oh yeah, forgot about that! anyway I've gone off the idea lol

 

[jimortality]

Want to point out firstly that I have no issues with Lewis but yeah when you think that Bottas does the lion share of the promotional work, publicity events as well.

Anyway I don't want to go off topic. Haha.

Yeah that maybe so but he's 4 time world champion where as Bottas isn't and I love Lewis (Not in a gay kind of way)