Force India Saved by Stroll Led Consortium

Paul Jeffrey

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Force India Saved.jpg

The Force India Formula One team appear to have been rescued from administration by a high powered consortium led by billionaire Canadian Lawrence Stroll.


With the Silverstone based team continuing to perform impressively in Formula One these last few years, the news just before the summer break that the squad have been forced into administration in an attempt to stave off closure due to an increasing lack of funds in recent months has finally found a happy ending, with administrators confirming the outfit have been rescued by a consortium of people led by Canadian fashion mogul Lawrence Stroll, father of current Williams sophomore driver Lance.

Force India’s chief operations officer Otmar Szafnauer confirmed the news today, marking the end of an unpredictable period for the team who currently sit sixth in the 2018 Constructors Championship:

“This outcome secures the future of the Force India team in Formula 1 and will allow our team of racers to compete to our full potential.”

“I am delighted that we have the support of a consortium of investors who believe in us as a team and who see the considerable business potential that Force India has within F1 now and in the future.”

“At Force India, our expertise and commitment has meant that we have always punched above our weight and this new investment ensures that we have a bright future ahead of us.”

“I also would like to thank Vijay, the Sahara Group and the Mol family for all of their support and taking the team as far as their circumstances would allow,”​

Joint administrator Geoff Rowley, no stranger to fans who followed the ultimately abortive attempts to rescue both Caterham and Manor in recent seasons added:

“It is rare that a company can be rescued and returned to a position of solvency.”

“The quality of the various interested parties has been impressive and required careful consideration as the administration has progressed.

“Having followed a robust process, in the end we were left with a highly-credible offer to save the company and restore solvency.

“Funding to support the team will be made available from today, and significantly more will be available once the company emerges from administration which we expect within the next two to three weeks.”
It is thought the new cash injection will allow Force India to bring on stream a wave of new developments planned for the current season, as well as allowing the team to continue progress of the 2019 challenger. It remains to be seen if the Force India name will remain past 2018, or if new ownership will result in a rebranding ahead of next season.

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Happy to see Force India have been saved? Do you think Lance Stroll will end up in one of the cars either later this season or next? Can this be a prompt for Force India to move on to bigger things in future? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
Well firstly, the team is saved for the time being which is great news.

The figures I was hearing though were frightening. The shareholders were owed £140 million, Mercedes were owed around £60 million and so on. Where on earth you find that sort of capital I have no idea so whatever you think of Lawrence Stroll he's done a remarkable job of rescuing the team.

Fingers crossed they are still here for 2019 and beyond :)
 
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All I’m saying is that coming from someone who doesn’t like to ride the paydriver hate train is that Pérez or Ocon get forced out of the sport due to this, I think it would be a complete shambles in terms of what F1 represents as a sport
 
All I’m saying is that coming from someone who doesn’t like to ride the paydriver hate train is that Pérez or Ocon get forced out of the sport due to this, I think it would be a complete shambles in terms of what F1 represents as a sport
While I wholeheartedly agree with your statement the alternative may well have been both drivers out of a job next season.
With the amount of investment this consortium is putting in, it will undoubtedly mean than Lance will be onboard next season.
Overall that must be the lesser of two evils :)
 
It's common sense they'd keep the name for the rest of 2018 and keep the championship cash, but what happens in 2019? Will the Stroll group put their product names around the car? Force Canada?
 
Force Canada is great title ! :D

Interesting to me is how most of those "big" teams were actually against of saving one of their own - another F1 team.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/...s-compromised-by-rival-teams-1066345/3151682/
Wonder how did they imagine racing with just a 18 cars out there. Greedy bastards. :poop::thumbsup:
I have the same feelings... though no one in the F1 media group would call them greedy... they don't dare... No gentleman consideration whatsoever.
 
[QUOTE="Where on earth you find that sort of capital I have no idea so whatever you think of Lawrence Stroll he's done a remarkable job of rescuing the team.

[/QUOTE]

For what it's worth: Stroll is worth 3 billion $ and is the 55th richest Canadian... André Desmarais, one of the investors, is a member of the Desmarais family which is, I believe, the 7th biggest fortune in Canada. So, basically, this is a bunch of billionaires putting their resources together. They have LOTS of money.

As I always say: there is A LOT of money out there in the world. It's just very unevenly distributed... The rich get richer every year...
 
Force Canada is great title ! :D

Interesting to me is how most of those "big" teams were actually against of saving one of their own - another F1 team.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/...s-compromised-by-rival-teams-1066345/3151682/
Wonder how did they imagine racing with just a 18 cars out there. Greedy bastards. :poop::thumbsup:
They were: Williams, McLaren and Renault... medium teams at best ;) The 'big' 3 did not appear to have an issue?

But agree, how rude! One would think that the teams would have stood together to help a fellow team out. But I guess business is business and they will take any edge they can?
 
All I’m saying is that coming from someone who doesn’t like to ride the paydriver hate train is that Pérez or Ocon get forced out of the sport due to this, I think it would be a complete shambles in terms of what F1 represents as a sport

The irony is that Perez has been called pay driver for a good part - if not the whole - of his career. And now he could be out of a decent team because someone way richer and way slower buys his way in there.
 

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