Force India have their backs against the wall, with the team going through a torrid phase in a bid to continue functioning in F1.
While, the team has been pulled out of administration by a Lawrence Stroll led consortium, Stroll has only been able to buy the assets and not the name ‘Force India’.
If the team enters F1 with a new name, it will lose its prize money for this year, unless all rival teams agree to Force India getting its prize money in full.
Thus, Stroll and co. will have to pump more money in(or rather would lose out on money) because of the protests of McLaren, Renault and Williams.
However, FIA and Liberty Media have proposed a middle ground, where in Force India will lose out on all of its current WCC points, start from scratch and get the prize money against the points that they score in the remaining races this season.
The Force India drivers’ media session was one of the most sought after one today, as the media expected some insights on what was happening behind the scenes with Force India.
Both drivers admitted to the fact that they were a little concerned about what the future held for the team, but wanted to focus on doing the job on the track and let the concerned individuals do what they do off it.
“I’m calm, my priority is to ride, I’ll do the year that’s coming in. It’s a matter of time to communicate it. I’ll be in F1, the team has a much more stable future, there’s optimism. It affects me, I have not spoken with Mallya yet, we are good friends.” Perez said.
“Ricciardo’s move was not a shock to me, my managers are working on my future, I’m not worried, I will not let it happen, I can only say that I’ll give my best on the track, go to McLaren, if it’s a possibility, why not! I have not spoken with Mallya ” Ocon said.
There is no clarity about the future holds for Force India, but from the looks of it, it seems like they will have to race under a new banner, if at all.
What that new banner will be, is something that has to be seen, but for now, we’ll have to speculate will infact take part this season.
