Vijay Mallya, famously known as “The King of Good Times,” earned the title due to his exuberant lifestyle and extravagant parties. The Indian billionaire became well known in the F1 community as the owner of Force India and during his tenure as team boss, his yacht parties in Monaco gained significant fame.
Otmar Szafnauer, who worked closely with Mallya as the COO and Team Principal of the Silverstone-based outfit, recently shared his account of those events.
Speaking on The Race podcast, Szafnauer recalled Mallya’s extravagant gatherings, saying, “Vijay’s yacht parties were legendary… 700+ people on his boat at the same time.”
At times, the yacht’s captain even feared for safety due to the sheer number of guests onboard.
“I think the captain was a bit concerned after 7-800 or yeah after 700; he started getting concerned that if everybody would suddenly rush over to one side of the boat, he might have problems but that never happened,” Szafnauer added. “We’re well dispersed“.
️ #OnThisDay in 2⃣0⃣0⃣8⃣@ForceIndiaF1 were officially ‘born’ into the #F1 family, via the launch of their first car, the VJM01, in Mumbai pic.twitter.com/Ar8Uq1kO54
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 7, 2017
Mallya hosting lavish parties was hardly a surprise. After all, he owned Kingfisher, a beer company based in Bangalore, India. It was the perfect way to promote his brand.
Sadly, both Mallya and Force India faced a dramatic fall from grace, bringing his time on the F1 grid to an end.
Mallya was forced to sell Force India due to financial struggles
Around 2016-2017, Mallya faced legal troubles, with authorities alleging he owed banks nearly $1 billion. Declared a wanted man in India, he moved to the UK to evade extradition. However, his assets, including Force India’s accounts, were eventually frozen.
The Silverstone squad went into administration, and employees would have gone without salaries had Szafnauer not stepped in and paid them out of his own pocket.
With no other option, Mallya was forced to sell the team. In 2018, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll led a consortium to acquire it for $113 million, rebranding it as Racing Point in the process.
Since then, the team has undergone a massive transformation. While Mallya was content with Force India’s success as a midfield contender, Stroll had far bigger ambitions. In 2020, after acquiring a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin, he rebranded Racing Point under the iconic name, aiming to turn it into a World Championship-winning team.
In 2023, the team got a regular taste of silverware with Fernando Alonso guiding them to eight podium finishes, hinting at bigger things to come.
2024 was a quiet year for Aston Martin, as the team failed to secure any trophies. However, with an investment of over $235 million in top talent—Adrian Newey, Enrico Cardile, and Andy Cowell—along with upgrades to their wind tunnel and a state-of-the-art facility in Silverstone, Stroll has signaled that success may not be far away.
