Arrest warrant issued for Vijay Mallaya

[davyboy]

The Indian Grand Prix could be a whole lot more interesting this year.

Autosport article here.

[Marbot]

hmmmm......not the sort of thing that sponsors take too kindly to. It's bad for the image.

[Nikki Katz]

Aren't the sponsors the Mallya companies that defaulted anyway?

[Spritle]

It could have been worse, for "hoon driving" or something...

He should just ring up Bernie for some advice on dodging the warrant.

[Canada ALMS fan]

How long before the rumours start about Force India's future? Both Mallya and the Sahara Group have financial issues...

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Aren't the sponsors the Mallya companies that defaulted anyway?

certainly Kingfisher airlines and the drink brands also owned by Mallya's United Breweries are. with the airline at least, if they cant pay their employees they really shouldn't be spending money on sponsoring an F1 team.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

certainly Kingfisher airlines and the drink brands also owned by Mallya's United Breweries are. with the airline at least, if they cant pay their employees they really shouldn't be spending money on sponsoring an F1 team.

I'd be very surprised if they're meeting their financial commitments to the team... how long before we see a winding up order issued by a Force India supplier ?

[chillibowl]

maybe not far away at all. if you read the Joe Saward blog (one recent example) then you will know that he has been painting a picture of a plan to put Mallya into a position where he has to start selling off his more valuable assets like the UB group.

the timing of the arrest warrant for what amounts to not paying a relatively tiny portion of a much larger debt in such close proximity to the Indian GP certainly gives some credence to the idea that there is a larger game being played here.

im not sure if i think its all that clandestine (although how cool would it be if it was...well except for the employees not getting paid) but yeah i agree and also have a fear that bigger problems are on the horizon for the team.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Saward has an agenda he has been waging all year, he is paid by Fernandes (Caterham) so I would be careful when extrapolating his opinion into fact. He has issue with VJ, that IS a fact.

I can't see any evidence of the F1 team being touched by these problems so far. Let's hope that stays the case.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by davyboy

I'd be very surprised if they're meeting their financial commitments to the team... how long before we see a winding up order issued by a Force India supplier ?

Me too, I wonder who will end up buying the team ?

[Armco Bender]

his more valuable assets like the UB group.

From what I read UB are about £1 billion in the red.Kingfisher about £ .5 billion.
Bail out from Bernie?....

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

Saward has an agenda he has been waging all year, he is paid by Fernandes (Caterham) so I would be careful when extrapolating his opinion into fact. He has issue with VJ, that IS a fact.

I can't see any evidence of the F1 team being touched by these problems so far. Let's hope that stays the case.

I haven't read one falsehood from Saward on this issue. His stuff checks out. Some of it is even coming out on the other thread and are there on the links that I posted.

[QnickFTW]

Originally Posted by Spritle

He should just ring up Bernie for some advice on dodging the warrant.

Bernie has an amazingly sophisticated system developed for that, he doesnt go to the country that issue the warrant

Originally Posted by chillibowl

certainly Kingfisher airlines and the drink brands also owned by Mallya's United Breweries are. with the airline at least, if they cant pay their employees they really shouldn't be spending money on sponsoring an F1 team.

Ive came a cross a blog the other day (mid-summerish I think), a guy of some European nationality, flight attended at Kingfisher and the company still owed him money from last year. I imagine how delighted he and other Kingfisher employees are with Mallaya's yachting and F1ing habits.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Me too, I wonder who will end up buying the team ?

Quite probably, no one. Not anyone with any business sense, anyway. Not unless the whole thing can be got for an absolute bargain. Picking it up for 1 Euro would still leave all of your spending ahead of you.

[bella]

actually, if you've got business sense and you want to get involved with f1 you could do a lot worse than buying force india. well established, already tooled up, staffing and employee structures already in place... they're also clearly capable of designing and building a good car.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by bella

actually, if you've got business sense and you want to get involved with f1 you could do a lot worse than buying force india. well established, already tooled up, staffing and employee structures already in place... they're also clearly capable of designing and building a good car.

Well yes. But teams are still in a position where sponsorship and Bernies hand-outs still aren't paying the bills. It has become a sport where even Billionaires are having to think twice about joining in on the fun.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by bella

actually, if you've got business sense and you want to get involved with f1 you could do a lot worse than buying force india. well established, already tooled up, staffing and employee structures already in place... they're also clearly capable of designing and building a good car.

Could this be the team Honda are rumoured to be returning to F1 with?
Or would they just do an engine deal now?

P.S. Poor Mallya, thinks he can behave like a banker without a 1st world country banking licence!

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by wnut

Or would they just do an engine deal now?

Once bitten twice shy, as they say.

Honda, and any other car manufacturer thinking of coming into F1 as a chassis builder, ought to know by now that if you haven't got an Adrian Newey, or someone of that ilk, then you're basically just throwing money out of the window. Particularly as it's still pretty much a spending competition.

On the other hand, Honda do engines really well, particularly petrol engines.

However, there's no real official sign yet that Honda are at all interested.

http://www.pitpass.com/47558-Honda-c...ring-F1-return

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

Saward has an agenda he has been waging all year, he is paid by Fernandes (Caterham) so I would be careful when extrapolating his opinion into fact. He has issue with VJ, that IS a fact.

It's been going on for years. I was at one of his evenings in Montreal in 2010 and he was less than kind about Mallya. He detests that Mallya was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Not saying it is unfounded, just a long standing bias.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by Canada ALMS fan

It's been going on for years. I was at one of his evenings in Montreal in 2010 and he was less than kind about Mallya. He detests that Mallya was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Not saying it is unfounded, just a long standing bias.

Yes, exactly. It's not easy to spot obvious prejudice unless you are either looking for it or have suffered yourself. I have enough experience in the media to spot a plant when one crosses my desk and this is a great example of a skilled, paid for, propagandist in action.

It's never what they say, it's what they leave out. Just allowing the reader to put two and two together and make five. I don't often visit his blog but the other day he posted this http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/...1-pay-drivers/ which is a perfectly rational analysis of drivers, teams and their earnings. With one obvious omission. He leaves out Force India entirely.....

The very first reader comments on this and of course then gets the payoff: "I’d be more interested to know what happens to the money supply before thinking about drivers."

There you have it! Seed is sown. It's easy when you know how!

[bella]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Honda, and any other car manufacturer thinking of coming into F1 as a chassis builder, ought to know by now that if you haven't got an Adrian Newey, or someone of that ilk, then you're basically just throwing money out of the window. Particularly as it's still pretty much a spending competition.

you need to use 'in my opinion' a little more.

i think if a manufacturer wanted a cheaper way in then supplying engines and buying significant sponsorship on the car would be a way of doing it. however, if they were doing that then force india probably wouldn't be the ones to do it with.

on a side note, you're forgetting exactly how many gifted designers there are in a f1 team. the head genius might be a lead, a direction in which to think but he doesn't design *everything* on a car. red bull have a really good proactive attitude to their employees and nurturing talent.

incidentally, did anyone notice how the honda rumours appeared at the same time as they were fist-shaking about leaving motogp?

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

Yes, exactly. It's not easy to spot obvious prejudice unless you are either looking for it or have suffered yourself. I have enough experience in the media to spot a plant when one crosses my desk and this is a great example of a skilled, paid for, propagandist in action.

It's never what they say, it's what they leave out. Just allowing the reader to put two and two together and make five. I don't often visit his blog but the other day he posted this http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/...1-pay-drivers/ which is a perfectly rational analysis of drivers, teams and their earnings. With one obvious omission. He leaves out Force India entirely.....

The very first reader comments on this and of course then gets the payoff: "I’d be more interested to know what happens to the money supply before thinking about drivers."

There you have it! Seed is sown. It's easy when you know how!

Saward announces that he has biases, he makes no claim to objectivity. Any claim made by any journalist needs to be cross referenced. Saward's biases in this instance have been cross referenced and independently vindicated by various other financial publications unrelated to sport. What's is odd running around with "Joe Saward, Joe Saward, Joe Saward" ringing in one mind, demanding surreal standards of evidence and ignoring the very real evidence there is at hand in regard to Force India. That evidence is that the medium term financial stability of Force India is at stake. Chanting "Saward" like a mantra doesn't make that any less true.

[mountainstar]

Eventually Mallya was going to have to face the music and it's all going to fall apart over time.

On Saward he is one of the few F1 journalists I have ever enjoyed reading and puts a lot of interesting opinions and information out there, but by his own admission, he's on the payroll of a variety of organizations out there and you have to take what he says with that in mind.

[Zen]

What does it say about Fernandes and Caterham when they employ a journalist to write derisory articles in his 'independent blog' about a rival they have severe problems with. Lets not forget this whole spat started with Gascoyne & his team copying Force India's car. Does this mean Saward condones cheating???

Its a pity Blogs and PR tripe don't win races

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by bella

if you've got business sense and you want to get involved with f1

You've got a problem and need to see a psychiatrist