AN INDIAN SUMMER
2009 was the year the Force India Formula One Team truly arrived in F1. One pole, one podium and one fastest lap signalled the end of obscurity and a tangible step towards becoming a front running team. In doing so, it was the first glimmer of the fulfilment of the dream laid by Dr Vijay Mallya and the Mol family on purchasing the team two years previous.
The team was created in the final months of 2007 when Dr Mallya, owner of India’s iconic UB Group and Kingfisher Airlines, and Jan & Michiel Mol, Dutch e-commerce businessmen, founded a joint venture company named Orange India Holdings. The company bought the team from the Dutch car manufacturer Spyker Cars N.V. and the next year, in 2008, made history when the Force India F1 Team took to the track as the first-ever Indian Formula 1 team entered into the FIA Formula One World Championship.
The team is based in Silverstone, UK, and will contest the 2010 championship, its third year of competition, with German Adrian Sutil and Italian Tonio Liuzzi as race drivers. Paul di Resta, from Scotland, will ably support Adrian and Tonio and test and reserve driver.
Although still a relatively young team, Force India has a strong heritage and deep roots in the sport. It is built from the ashes of Jordan Grand Prix, which was established by Irishman Eddie Jordan in 1991. Although always one of the smaller teams in the field, it had a constant ability to run with the front teams and, at times, out-race them. Over time Jordan Grand Prix scored three victories and numerous podiums, becoming one of F1’s most successful teams. In 2004 Jordan sold the team to the Midland Group and it was renamed Midland F1 Racing in 2005. Following the purchase of the team by Spyker Cars N.V. in 2006, it subsequently became the Spyker Formula One Team for the 2007 championship before Force India was created in the final months of that year.
With its name and patriotic logo now incorporating the colours of the Indian flag and its chakra, the team has become a sporting representation of the emerging generation of young, success-hungry, fast paced global Indians and the growing strength of India as a nation.
Dr. Vijay Mallya - Chairman
 |
| vijay mallya |
Dr Vijay Mallya is the charismatic businessman heading up one of India's largest and most significant business empires, the UB Group. With annual sales of over US $4 billion and a market capitalisation of approximately US $12 billion, the Group has diverse interests in brewing, distilling, real estate, engineering, fertilisers, biotechnology, information technology and aviation. It is also the largest Indian manufacturer of beer and spirits.
In the late 80s, Dr. Mallya pursued global opportunities to transform the UB Group into India's first multinational company and in 1988, in a leveraged buyout, acquired the global Berger Paints Group with operating companies across four continents.
In 1990, following the Government of India's liberalised economic policies, Dr. Mallya decided that the UB Group would only retain interests in businesses that were globally competitive. He also decided to focus on areas of core competence and transformed the vastly diversified UB conglomerate into a handful of key operating businesses including spirits, beer and Kingfisher Airlines.
Kingfisher Airlines is today the market leader in India's booming aviation market. With the merger of Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines, the airline covers all segments of air travel from low fares to premium fares and offers the maximum number of flights offered by any single airline network in India. It has added international routes from Bangalore and Mumbai to London, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong to its armoury over a two year period.
In 2007, United Spirits Limited, the flagship of the UB Group, also acquired a hundred percent of premium scotch distillers Whyte & Mackay and Liquidity Inc, a United States-based maker of speciality vodkas.
In addition to his Chairmanship of several other corporations, Dr. Mallya has been the Chairman of Aventis Pharma India (previously Hoechst) as well as the Chairman of Bayer Crop Science in India (previously Agrevo) for over 20 years.
Dr. Mallya has received several professional awards both in India and overseas. He was conferred a Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration by the Southern California University, Irvine, and has also been nominated as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.
One of Dr Mallya's major passions has however always been cars and motorsport in particular. He has had a longstanding presence in motorsport dating back to the 1970s and 80s when he participated in several club races and non-championship Grands Prix, including the Madras and Calcutta Grands Prix, in Mo Nunn-owned Ensigns. When Dr. Mallya was elected by shareholders as Chairman of UB in 1983 at the age of 28 business interests began to take considerably more of his time, he took to collecting and racing historic and vintage cars in the UK.
In the late 90s Dr Mallya returned to Formula 1, this time as a sponsor. Kingfisher beer logos appeared on the Benetton Formula One Team in 1996 and 1997 and in 2007, Kingfisher Airlines was a sponsor of the Panasonic Toyota Formula One Team. During this time Dr Mallya's imagination was fired again for F1 and, spotting a unique business opportunity, he formed a joint venture company with Jan and Michiel Mol to purchase the Spyker Formula One Team at the end of 2007. Force India was officially launched in January 2008 and has since gone from strength to strength.
