F1 insider claims Force India ‘insolvent’ (6th Update)
The Silverstone based team missed the Jerez test and will also not have its 2015 car at the forthcoming Barcelona session.
According to Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt, it has triggered rumors Force India has "no chassis, no fuel tank, no engine, no gearbox and no wind tunnel time" due to a financial crisis.
But chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer insists all of that is untrue.
The biggest rumor is that Force India fell so behind in payments to its carbon manufacturer EPM that its 2015 monocoque has not been delivered.
Szafnauer insists: "We have no debt to our supplier."
He explained that the delay is simply due to EPM moving factory over the winter, during which crucial machinery was damaged.
As for rumored problems with the fuel tank supplier ATL, Schmidt said the explanation is that the company changed the payment terms of its bills, but Force India has now "paid the bill and received the tank".
As for the powertrain, Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda confirmed that "We have received our money from Force India", while Szafnauer says there are also no issues with its new arrangement in Toyota's wind tunnel.
"If we had not fulfilled our obligations," he said, "we would not be in the wind tunnel right now."
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| Force India's VJM08 |
02/04/15 (GMM) Yet another official test will pass before Force India's 2015 car is debuted, it emerged on Wednesday.
Already absent at Jerez, the Silverstone based team is fending off speculation of financial trouble that could even mean the season opener in Melbourne is in doubt.
But Force India declared: "We'll be there come Melbourne."
What is becoming clear, however, is that – whatever the reason – supplier trouble is holding up the final build of the first Mercedes-powered VJM08.
The most likely outcome now is another missed session for the 2015 car, even though Barcelona in a fortnight is the second of just three pre-season tests.
"Although everybody is working towards getting the VJM08 to the next test session in Barcelona, it's more likely the new car will appear at the final Barcelona test," Force India admitted on Wednesday.
"So, that would mean running the 2014 car at the first Barcelona test," the team said.
02/04/15 (GMM) Force India and also F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone have played down reports about the health of the Silverstone based team.
Amid rumors the team is in financial trouble and could miss the season opener in Melbourne, a Force India spokesperson said on Monday: "We will definitely be in Melbourne and are still planning to test in Barcelona."
But late on Tuesday, reports emerged that the team will in fact probably also miss the first of the two Barcelona tests due to supplier problems.
The sport's chief executive Ecclestone, meanwhile, reacted to reports in the German media that at a meeting of the strategy group last week it emerged that Force India is close to collapse.
"There was not a strategy group meeting on Tuesday," the 84-year-old told us. "I suppose you were referring to last Tuesday where there was also no strategy group meeting."
Italy's Omnicorse, however, claims an American investor has commenced due diligence on Force India, which is currently owned by the embattled Vijay Mallya and the jailed Subrata Roy.
"The next few days will be crucial," the report added.
Meanwhile, Ecclestone denied suggestions he is trying to find a buyer for Lotus in order to "get rid of" Gerard Lopez, insisting the Luxembourger is in fact "a friend".
02/02/15 (GMM) Rumors about the health of the Force India team are continuing to worsen.
The Silverstone based squad has not fully explained its absence from the Jerez test this week.
On social media, German driver Nico Hulkenberg posted a photo of himself training in the snow, remarking: "If I can't be at Jerez I'm getting myself into shape at 3000m."
And on Sunday, as his rivals pounded around Jerez, he posted another photo of himself watching the tennis on television.
Ralf Bach, a correspondent for Sport Bild and TZ Munchen who now writes on his own blog f1-insider.com, said he has learned that Force India's Jerez absence is "because it has no monocoque" for the new VJM08 car.
He said Force India has not been delivered the 2015 monocoque by carbon supplier EOM "because bills have not been paid".
Bach claims Force India's overall debts are in the order of 50 million euros, including engine and tire suppliers Mercedes and Pirelli.
"Making the season opener in Melbourne is now virtually impossible," Bach quoted a team source as saying.
01/30/15
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| Sirotkin's backers were to write a huge check to prop up the Force India team, such is the way in cancer stricken buy-a-ride open wheel racing |
(GMM) The saga about Force India's apparent financial troubles is continuing.
Luis Vasconcelos, an experienced correspondent writing for Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, now claims a young driver from Russia is at the centre of the Silverstone based team's absence from the Jerez test.
"According to our sources," he claimed, "the Jerez plans collapsed when Sergey Sirotkin's promised sponsorship money did not arrive."
19-year-old Sirotkin was once part of the so-called 'Russian rescue deal' at Sauber, another struggling midfield team.
"The contract with Sauber was annulled and Sirotkin was to become this year's reserve driver at Force India, including participation in the winter tests and seven Friday morning practice sessions.
"When the money did not come in time, Force India withdrew entirely from Jerez," Vasconcelos added.
01/29/15 (GMM) Force India has denied reports it is now just the latest F1 team fighting for mere survival.
The Silverstone based team took on and almost beat the British grandee McLaren in 2014, but it will begin the new season by sitting out the first winter test at Jerez.
It has triggered speculation Force India, whose co-owners Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy are suffering well-documented off-track troubles, is on the verge of insolvency.
Indeed, the highly-respected German publication Auto Motor und Sport on Thursday repeated rumors of Force India falling so behind in bills to key suppliers – such as one that provides the all-important carbon fiber – that it is the reason for the delayed debut of the VJM08.
But chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer insists the delay is more about the move from the team's own wind tunnel to the state-of-the-art Toyota facility in Cologne.
"We want to see some of the results flowing into the car for the Barcelona test," he said.
Szafnauer said he is "90 per cent" certain Force India's 2015 car will be fully up and running for that second test, beginning on 19 February.
He said sitting out Jerez altogether is "saving us 500,000 pounds. The engine and transmission tests, Mercedes can do for us. So we wouldn't be learning too much," Szafnauer insisted.
And he hit back at the reports of financial doom for Force India.
"We employ 380 people and they all get their salaries on time," Szafnauer said. "We have just presented new sponsors and if things were really bad we wouldn't have gone to Mexico to introduce the team.
"I can say 'We are still alive'. And everything is going according to plan."
01/28/15
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| Is Force India the next F1 team to go belly up? |
(GMM) The latest team in serious peril is Force India, according to an insider.
The Silverstone based team announced on Wednesday that it is sitting out the first test of the 2015 pre-season at Jerez.
The reasons for the decision have not been well explained, but technical boss Andrew Green has said it was a "conscious decision" to trade the test for more "development time".
But insider Ralf Bach, who writes for Sport Bild and TZ Munchen, writes on his blog f1-insider.com that the very future of the team is "far from certain".
The off-track troubles of Vijay Mallya are well known, and Force India's co-owner Subrata Roy is even in jail.
Bach reports that at the F1 strategy group meeting in London on Tuesday, it emerged that Force India is "facing financial collapse" and is currently insolvent.
The situation means the 2015 car is delayed "because important parts suppliers have not been paid".
Bach added: "If no money flows in the next four weeks, it is said even the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia are endangered.
"The team is for sale," he claimed, "and Renault is interested as it wants to cut the cord to Red Bull and once again have a bigger presence in formula one."
Meanwhile, Bach also claimed that Pastor Maldonado's place at Lotus is in doubt, as his and the Enstone team's major Venezuelan backer, the state-owned PDVSA, is in crisis over the dramatic fall in oil prices.
He wrote: "Bernie Ecclestone is apparently looking for a buyer for Lotus, because he wants to get rid of the uncomfortable Gerard Lopez.
"He has been trying for some time but so far has found no one."