Force India F1 launch

The livery looks like a old beer can!
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Well, that's because Kingfisher beer paid for it.

This extravagant launch underlines the old rule of "the bigger the launch, the smaller the results".

That is surprising: His operating budget for 08 was allegedly 100 mio USD. At least that's what he said in an interview earlier last year.

 

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AFAIK Spyker got 40 million from the penalty McLaren had to pay. But the calculation isn't like 100+40 because that number was all part of the deal when he bought the team from Spyker. Also there were big debts to pay off.

Since he controls a LOT of money through his companies, he can of course increase the budget from 100 to 180. No question. I'm merely surprised that he is doing it. But hey, it's his money.

I remember he spoke in the interview of 100 million as a target and that at that point they were still looking for sponsors. Well, looking at these pics maybe the sponsors on the car made all the difference?

 

at least they have decent looking racing suits.

 

I'm going to officially like the looks of the cars. Better than some of the others, that's for sure. As far as their budget, any chance the change is a reflection of conversion and the drop in the valuation of the $US?

 

+1

I'm getting so tired of the Williams/BMW and Toyota/Super Aguri look alikes.

There are enough colors in the spectrum to make 12 different schemes one would think.

 

Guys, how is this 180m $ budget compared to the other teams? Is it smaller, bigger?

 

It is smaller than most budgets, but not ridiculous. Minardi and Jordan used to operate on something like 40 million, that's just not enough to be competitive. Top teams have more like 300-500 million. Also depends a bit on how you calculate. Does that number include the development of the engine for one of the top teams or is that extra? I would assume in this case, the costs for buying Ferrari engines is included.

Bottom line is, that if they really have 180 million, they can do some serious racing (as in being a real threat to other back packers). OTOH all the money in the world can't save Toyota. It all depends on what you do with it.

Or to put it differently: This team (Jordan->Midland->Spyker->Force India) never had so much operating budget.

 

Thank you for clearing that out. Can't wait for this season to begin, perhaps even more exciting than the last one.

 

Amen to that! Something I miss is gold wheels. I always thought they looked good on certain F1 cars (Ferrari, Gold Leaf/JPS Lotus). But Williams and Toyota really need a makeover. Also, Renault needs some re-thinking. They're falling into the old Benetton habit of "layering" the latest sponsor over the previous to where the car looks slapped together design-wise.

 

The two designs put on the Renault were an eyesore, but at least the car was always instantly recognizable as a Renault. Not something I could say about the Williams/BMW, Aguri/Toyota cars. Even the Spyker/Ferrari combo was too similar for my taste.

Each year I take pictures of all the cars at GPs and later I sort them by teams. Time and again did I mix the thumbnail shots up. Same thing happens when watching them from a distance live or on TV.

Agreed on the golden wheels.

 

Photo #4, Fisi captions.

1) What am I doing here ?
2) Do I really want to do this ?
3) Am I sitting on a tack ?
4) I knew I shouldn't have had that chutney.

 

5) will i get one of those Indian babes if i win a race this season?

 

I wondered if anyone noticed his "peculiar" expression.

 

Team KwikEmart!

 

hope they do well the car looks good!

 

The picture of Sutil sitting on the sofa in his driver's suit is funny. He looks embarrassed.

 

He has a grand yacht and some pretties. He is prepared for Monte Carlo.

Ciao...Paolo

 

After looking at your profile picture I wouldn't talk.

 

When Kingfisher was in the Ferrari Challenge their Ferrari looked like sparking beer. It was one of
the first wrap jobs.