Force India’s weak financial condition meant that rumours had started doing the rounds about a possible registration for ‘controlled bankruptcy.
And those rumours have actually come true, as according to AutoBild, Lawrence Stroll has bought Force India from its existing(rather previous) owners Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy and Michiel Mol.
It is however not clear if Stroll has bought a majority stake in the team or has completely bought the team for himself.
But whatever it is, one thing is for sure, the billionaire’s son, Lance Stroll will now drive for Force India.
Lawrence had earlier invested his money in his son’ team, Williams, however, lack of performance from Williams and an opportunity to buy an entire team seemed a little too enticing for Lawrence.
With Stroll moving to Force India, it will be interesting to see how the driver market behaves in the next few weeks.
One of Ocon or Perez will have to move and reports suggest that Ocon has already found suitors at Renault.
The Stroll effect will lead to movement in all midfield F1 teams, with a lot of the action set to take place during the summer break.
A lot of the movement would depend on Alonso’s decision about staying in F1 or quitting for some other form of motorsport, or quitting car racing entirely.
For the ‘Force India’ brand, it is good that it found a prospective buyer after the current(previous) owners bailed out on it due to financial constraints.
It will be interesting to see what kind of management is put in place to run the team and if it can continue to fight for supremacy in that midfield group.
