Vijay Mallya Steps Down As Force India F1 Team Director
Vijay Mallya has cited his need to focus on his legal issues as the reason for the move.
Vijay Mallya on Thursday decided to forego his position as Managing Director of the Formula One team Force India. However, according to a Formula One official release, he will continue as Team Principal of the outfit, with Bob Fearnley remaining the team's Deputy Principal. The Formula 1 Team is currently owned by Mallya and Subrata Roy, each of whom owns 42.5 percent of the team. The remaining stake of 15 percent belongs to the Dutch Mol family, headed by businessman Michiel Mol. It is expected that Vijay Mallya will hand over the role of managing director to his son Siddharth Mallya, who has in the past served as a director for the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Vijay Mallya has cited his need to focus on his legal issues as the reason for the move.
The Indian businessman was part of a consortium that bought the Spyker team in 2007 and subsequently renamed it Force India.
Since then, the team have gone from strength to strength, peaking with fourth place in the constructors' championship in each of the last two seasons.
Force India are presently sixth in the constructors' championship with 26 points. Lead driver Sergio Perez's podium in Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been the team's 2018 highlight so far. The team have been on the podium a total of six times with the first one coming at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix with Giancarlo Fisichella finishing third.
Since then, Perez has been the only driver to have achieved a podium finish for the team - at 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix, 2015 Russian Grand Prix, 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, 2016 European Grand Prix and 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The current team includes Perez and Frenchman Esteban Ocon.
Force India
Sergio Perez