(Racing Point) Force India 2018

Ditto: can't understand it either, Bob did wonders.
This story will prove once more that the best way to make a small fortune in Formual One is to start with a big one.

Rgds

 

This might not be that big of a deal. The new team boss has been with the team since 2009 as their COO.

Short interview from a few months ago
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/2018-preview/otmar-szafnauer-interview/

 

Yes I know. And I accept that when someone takes the key of a house or company, usually he needs to mark its territory, and if he thinks that a change of value or direction is in the order of the day, then you have to push some stalwarts of the "ancien régime" thru the door; that's fair, and I don't disagree. But as said by Pedro, I really do think that Bob Fernley did wonders at Force India.
Now, come to think of it, during his time there the Force Indias did have lots of orange on them, and right now I can think of another team with orange cars that could need Bob's talent...

Rgds

 

And I thought it would be "Baby Stroller" by now.

 

Racing (what’s the) Point

 

This cannot be a positive for the current working members - not drivers. The points are eventually a bonus for them. I guess the new, deep pocket owners will make that up if they dont get points back??????????????? Crazy on the surface.

 

I wonder where their prize money will now end up? If it ends up distributed amongst the other teams then that's their incentive for helping to block a seamless transition. Or does it just not get distributed at all? Presumably they also get no prize money for the next two or three years either? Maybe that won't worry Stroll and co too much but it still seems pretty unfair given the same people have turned up with the same cars as they did at the last race just with more money behind them.

Meanwhile amused by Lance Stroll quoted as saying "We’ll see what my father decides to do. He’s a nice guy, I’ll hope he takes me". I'd be laughing non-stop till the end of the season if his dad turned round and said "actually son, we've decided we need a better driver than you".

 

Yep, Claire Williams can now breathe with relief: she will get some of the money of the ex-Force India team.
That has thrown a lifeline to her ailing team.

 

Dumbest name ever...

Should be "What's the point?"

If you want to market an F1 team, don't give it a generic name. "Racing point" means nothing.

 

The FIA and Liberty Media press releases are unfortunately not clear enough, but I am interpreting that the points situation is a compromise all around.

It is the old Sahara Force India team that is losing all it's current points - that's the team that competed Australia to Hungary, and has now ceased to exist.

The new Racing Point Force India comes into existence as of Spa 2018 as a new entry, and does not have any points at the onset of it's new mid-season entry to F1. However, I am interpreting the announcements such that the RPFI team can earn points as of immediately (and so by Sunday evening will again be ahead of Williams in the Championship, and within 2 more weeks will be ahead of McLaren... ). The Concorde Agreement requirement that a new team participate for 2 years before being eligible to earn points is, I am guessing, waived for RPFI. This compromise suits the 3 teams that were objecting to the Stroll-owned version of FI keeping all the Sahara FI points, without penalizing the new RPFI team for the next 2.5 years.

IF the lost Sahara FI constructors points for Australia to Hungary are redistributed, then Williams might earn a few points, so it might take until Monza for RPFI to overtake them, but I believe that RPFI will be eligible to earn points as of Spa, starting from zero points for the season thus far.

As for the dopey name - I'd be pretty sure that it's just for a continuity thing, that people will still see a "Force India" somewhere in the name for the rest of the season, but they will be sure to emphasize it's 'Racing Point Force India' for the rest of the season, then the 'Force India' will be dropped like a hot curry as soon as the 2018 season is over. Next year the team will be just 'Racing Point'.

Expect the car chassis numbering to change from "VJM-(whatever)" to "LS-01" or similar.

 

Could well be a compromise but Larry should challenge. The team was a valid entity, were part of the circus enough years and kept their cars within spec. Those points were earned the hard way. They shouldn’t be gifted to anyone except the new owners.

 

Yeah, the problem is that it was Sahara Force India that had the points, and because of the legal entanglements of Mallya and Sahara, there were 13 Indian banks with claims on the company and those banks were not going to (or able to) sign off on the sale of Sahara Force India in time for the team to participate in the race this weekend. The Administrator was left with little choice but to sell off all the assets of the team except the company that also owned the entry. Knowing just a little of the love of bureaucracy in India, I'm not surprised it was a stumbling block.

In addition, given that McLaren, Renault, and Williams (I think those were the 3, maybe not Renault) were objecting to Stroll et all assuming the points for Sahara Force India if they had to become a new legal entity to take over the team, and it would require unanimous approval of all teams, I think it's actually a pretty slick, smart compromise that allows the new team to still be eligible to earn points going forward and participate in the prize money this year. If the new Stroll et al team were held to the letter of the Concorde agreement and not allowed to share prize revenue for two years, the case for rescuing Force India might have been non-viable. This lets those 3 bottom dwellers profit a bit at Force India's expense, but doesn't ruin the business case of rescuing a viable Force India that will be able to compete at a higher level than the 3 teams that 'had concerns'.

 

They just wanted to get rid of Sahara. They aren't trying to market anything it's just the name of the consortium.

Next year they are getting a new name.

 

Hummm

But if they change name again, won't all the points gathered Under the "Racing Point Force India" banner be cancelled?

 

So, it's a new team, but .... it's not a new team.

The FIA works in mysterious ways sometimes.

 

Do the old Force India stop accruing points and keep them or do they loose them? If they kept them come the end of the season, the defunct Force India will show it's current 59 point total and 'RAcing Point Force India' will collect new points. If that's the case then the old Force India could conceivably still finish ahead of Williams in the constructors points as Williams only have a pathetic 4 points. Renault is ahead of FI and McLaren is only 7 points behind. I'd love it if the defunct team beat Williams and the prize money went to the investors thus sticking it to Williams after their typically bratty behaviour.

Note. I am actually a long time fan of Williams as a team, it's Frank and now Clair's shenanigans that piss me off completely. I remember watching the 1980 Silverstone Grand PRix as an 11 year old kid, filled with NAtional pride as a British Driver in a British car won the British Grand Prix, right up until my dad pointed out to me that Alan Jones was an Aussie. I conveniently forgot all my 'Convict' jokes and re-adopted Australia as part of the Commonwealth in my kid brain and welcomed the victory all the same. I was a Jones fan from then on. I've always hated the way Williams treated it's drivers though. Three wold champions kicked out at the end of their championship year in favor a shinny new toy for Frank. That side I hate almost as much as the Horner and Marko show.

 

Your post exactly matches my feelings about Williams.
I always found the treatment of drivers absolutely despicable.
Drivers just clinching a WDC and often a WCC for Williams, and then being treated as mere commodities and sacked at the end of the year.
I heard rumours that Patrick Head (Frank's Partner at the time) was behind a lot of this bad atmosphere.