Force India Becomes Racing Point for 2019

[Paul Jeffrey]

The Force India name will disappear from Grand Prix racing next season - the newly Lawrence Stroll acquired team rebranding under the Racing Point title from 2019.

Having lost control of the outfit amid a sea of controversy in his home county of India, former Force India owner Vijay Mallaya recently relinquished ownership of the former Jordan / Spyker / Midland team earlier this year, selling out to a consortium of businessmen headed by billionaire Canadian Lawrence Stroll, in the process forfeiting the teams constructor points up to that point in the season before returning under the Racing Point Force India name.

Having at the time suggested the team would run under an entirely new entity for next season, following publication of the 2019 Formula One entry list on Friday, it looks like the exceptionally uninspired decision to become Racing Point for 2019, a name that is most certainly one of the less exotic of the current grid has been agreed.

As well as confirming the branding refresh next year, the Silverstone based outfit have also formally completed the signing of Lance Stroll on a long term deal, the 20-year-old third year driver partnering up with current team leader Sergio Perez for the team. With Esteban Ocon now secured as a Mercedes third driver, and Stroll having already sampled the Racing Point car during a Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi, it is thought that the deal to sign Stroll has been secured for some time, with the team just awaiting the right moment to formally make the announcement.

With the Racing Point seat now confirmed, 2019 will see just two teams (Mercedes and Haas) carry over their driver partnerships to 2019, marking out 2018 as one of the most action packed driver markets in recent years.

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[NtsParadize]

Wacky name

 

[Piotr Dul]

Supposed to be: Racing Stroll Force India

 

[jerry101110]

Pointless..

 

[Bert Austen]

Great back field and grind driver ...lance droll Pappa pays ...and see......son drives like a baby Team is hopelessly going to the crap

 

[BrettSinclair1]

Life without you is like a broken pencil ...

Pointless..

 

[rubaru]

Great back field and grind driver ...lance droll Pappa pays ...and see......son drives like a baby Team is hopelessly going to the crap

Curious what naysayers like you will do if Stroll actually does well in a better car. Or better yet, beats Perez? Are you going to also be complaining that Kubica doesn't deserve a seat in F1 if Williams is still a back marker in 2019? You all seem to forget that Stroll managed a podium in 2017.

 

[Nevini]

I hope they do well, a new independent team has to be good for F1.

 

[beachamor]

went from a respectable f1 team to a hack

 

[DND]

Wish him luck, and hope the shirt is an indication of the livery.

 

[antirussia81]

Now, when they chose a name, they should sign a sponsorship deal with GoDaddy... I don't know why but it just seems right. The second sponsor could be Toys'R'Us.

 

[Nick Hill]

Congratulations Stroll family on your latest portfolio aquisition! I guess!

 

[Dazmaniac]

Curious what naysayers like you will do if Stroll actually does well in a better car. Or better yet, beats Perez? Are you going to also be complaining that Kubica doesn't deserve a seat in F1 if Williams is still a back marker in 2019? You all seem to forget that Stroll managed a podium in 2017.

Agree, will be interesting to see how LS gets on in a new car.

Only early days, but Stroll ran 2 sessions of post season testing in the Force India (as was) and was in top 3 on both days time sheets and only a few tenths behind Vettel on 1st day. Will have to wait and see what 2019 brings.

 

[michelforest]

went from a respectable f1 team to a hack

With the exception of Lance Stroll and the new name, what is so different? Same car, same engine, same engineers... New owners, but these people are serious and have decided to spend money for developping the team. This team was on the verge of bankruptcy. And let's not forget Vijay Mallya's legal problems. Force India/Racing Point is in a better situation than it was.

 

[michelforest]

Congratulations Stroll family on your latest portfolio aquisition! I guess!

Lawrence Stroll is only one member of a multinational consortium of owners.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

good midfield team, glad someone came up and saved them. one should really draw a formula one family tree, considering this here was once spyker, or, for instance, torro rosso used to be minardi (or didn't they, lol?)

 

[Jimlaad43]

I think "Racing Force" would have been a great name that combines the two, but I suppose this company kinda has to distance itself from the old name.

 

[pgreenwo]

I wish my dad bought me an F1 seat too. Good luck to them I say.
I don't know what everyone is getting so mad about. LS must be a fairly able driver. I can't imagine just anyone can get in and be with 4 second's per lap of the top 3.

I bet anyone here in the same position would jump at the chance and probably not get anywhere near his race performance

 

[Andrew Harper]

I think "Racing Force" would have been a great name that combines the two, but I suppose this company kinda has to distance itself from the old name.

Yes I think the one thing people forget was that the teams debts were so huge it was probably pretty likely that the team would have vanished if it wasn't for the consortium that bought it out.

I wish them the best, I think they will do well initially; then as the other teams start to spend their millions on development costs they will start to fall back. However that tends to be the way with smaller teams anyway.

2019 is the year than Lance needs to prove himself as a worthy F1 driver. There is speed there of course but he also needs a solid car to show his potential, as @pgreenwo mentions if my Dad spent millions getting me into motor racing of any sort I'd jump at the chance! lol

 

[apex11]

Curious what naysayers like you will do if Stroll actually does well in a better car. Or better yet, beats Perez? Are you going to also be complaining that Kubica doesn't deserve a seat in F1 if Williams is still a back marker in 2019? You all seem to forget that Stroll managed a podium in 2017.

Lance SHOULD be good in an F1 car, he has had every single opportunity going possible to help him... and F1 cars are not hard to drive anyway, possibly the most user friendly race cars out there.
None of that is the point...the point is he is there because of his Daddies money.... whether he is good or not is moot.... were he born into a normal life he would not be in F1 based on his 'talent'.... whatever that means anyway.
Kubica is a great mention as look at his arm, F1 cars must be even more user friendly than i thought if you can drive one with basically one arm...