Force Indian to become Force One?
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With no race, nor any real interest in sponsorship coming from India, it seems the Silverstone based team could be set for a name change to attract more international based interest.
Revealing documents released on May 31st and June 6th saw at least six new limited companies registered in the UK under the names Force One Grand Prix, Force One Racing, Force One Team, Force One Technologies, Force One Hospitality and Force One Brand.
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And the persons listed to these new names? Dr Thiruvannamalai and Laskshimi Kanthan, an accountant and financial consultant and long time associate of Dr Vijay Mallya, the current director of Force India.
The idea behind this all seems to be to move away from the association with Indian branding that had once been very popular within F1. Although with the loss of the Indian Gran Prix, Force India have seen less and less interest from their directors home country since then.
“Force India was born out of Vijay owning the team,” said COO Otmar Szafnauer.
“His hopes that some India companies would sponsor us. As it turned out, there were a couple, but not very many. He also hoped that India would have a Grand Prix, which happened. With the Grand Prix and a couple of our sponsors, it made sense to have Force India’s name.
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“There are some people who believe the current name Force India is restrictive psychologically,” Kanthan told Motorsport.com
“I’m considering along with the other shareholders what steps to take but it’s a major decision and one that is not going to be taken in a hurry without due consideration.”
While Force One could generate more interest in the team, it could also be a way to make share selling for the team a lot easier. And it would be the first time this team has changed its name either. Previously known as Team Jordon, Midland F1 Racing, and Spyker F1 the team is no stranger to a name change or two.
But despite previous sport owner Berne Ecclestone being difficult when it came to team name changing, or rebranding, the current team are confident that under the new sports owners, their name change will be an easier process.
The FORCE name was previously associated with the F1 team also known as Beatrice Haas in 1985 and 1986, with thier official title being Formula One Race Car Engineering.
When owner Carl Haas left the F1 world, it was bought by Berne Ecclestone, who still owns it, although it has not actually traded since then.
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