Force India’s rivals agree to let team keep prize money

2018 Belgian Grand Prix

24th August 2018, 10:3920th October 2023, 16:01 | Written by Dieter Rencken and Keith Collantine

The rescued Force India team will not lose its share of Formula 1’s prize money following a unanimous agreement between its rival teams, RaceFans understands

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The team was rescued from administration following the Hungarian Grand Prix but had to be granted a new entry by the FIA in order to continue competing in the championship. This would have meant forfeiting its right to the ‘column one’ prize money it had earned, which is shared equally between all 10 teams.

RaceFans has learned from multiple sources all nine of Force India’s rivals agreed yesterday to allow the new team, officially known as Racing Point Force India, to inherit its predecessor’s share of ‘Column 1’ earnings. This is in addition to the ‘Column 2’ revenues it qualifies for via points earned from the balance of the season after the Belgian Grand Prix.

However the teams insisted Racing Point Force India could not retain the points it had scored over the first 12 rounds of the championship. The former Force India team has therefore been excluded from the points and the new entity starts afresh from zero this weekend.

Concerns Force India could become a ‘B-team’ of Mercedes led its rivals to insist the team retain ‘Force India’ within its name. This is understood to be out of a belief Mercedes does not wish to be too closely associated with a brand which is seen as having been tainted by the actions of its former owners.

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35 comments on “Force India’s rivals agree to let team keep prize money”

bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
24th August 2018, 10:44

Huzzah!
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
24th August 2018, 10:45

Some give and take by the teams there. Those previously unwilling to agree now get a bump in the championship standings for this year for the sake of a cut in the column 1 pot. Could be better long term gain for the likes of McLaren with a better 2018 season finish than they were expecting?
Nikki (@nikkit)
24th August 2018, 10:49

Good, I don’t think the team itself should be punished for the mismanagement of it’s owners. They worked hard to earn that cash, not just the drivers, but the crews, the mechanics, the guys at the factory etc.

Losing those points will hurt, but If they can hit the ground running they have a chance to make up for it somewhat by the end of the season.
bosyber (@bosyber)
24th August 2018, 10:49

That reason for keeping Force India in the name seems to be a very ineffective and childish way to ‘police’ that worry! But I am glad they will get column 1 money, and I am sure they’ll be able to get good points. Fourth was out of reach, and I guess 5th could also be gone, but fight for sixth is on.
1. ColdFly (@)
  24th August 2018, 11:35
  
  Wonder what happens with the Column 2 money from now on. IIRC it’s paid in 10 or so instalments until even after this season.
  1. BasCB (@bascb)
    24th August 2018, 12:10
    
    I am pretty sure they get the column 2 money for THIS season only during the next season @coldlfy, this year they probably get the column 2 money based on last years form.
  2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
    24th August 2018, 13:28
    
    @coldfly They will get that, though it will be based on the finishing position of ‘Racing Point Force India’, which as of now has zero points.
    1. ColdFly (@)
      24th August 2018, 14:40
      
      Thanks @keithcollantine & @bascb.
      I was thinking about the 2017 funds being paid this year. Sahara Force India F1 Team only collected the first x instalments. It seems the remainder will not be paid out now that team withdrew* or split over the other 9 entrants.
      
      * There is a really enlightening coverage on one of the other websites of the legal details of how Racing Point Force India entered midway through this season.
      The worrying part is that they had to pay FIA an undisclosed entry fee; they still needed to commit to pay all Sahara Ream creditors (support that); and they will miss out on all the benefits which Sahara Team accumulated.
      1. MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
        24th August 2018, 18:04
        
        “Worrying?” If I were a gambler, I’d bet the undisclosed late entry fee was set at a token amount, like $1, and not even close to the $500k (+ points) teams normally pay. For one, the normal entry fee was already paid, and secondly, attempting to charge a huge late fee would have reduced the chances of a successful deal… it is much more important to the FIA and F1 for the team to continue operating than anything else.
GeeMac (@geemac)
24th August 2018, 11:08

A really, really sensible compromise has been reached here. I have to applaud all involved because F1’s history is littered with short sighted, self serving decisions.
1. Sush meerkat
  24th August 2018, 11:19
  
  I was not expecting such a sensible outcome from historic precedence in this sport.
Marciare_o_Marcire (@marciare-o-marcire)
24th August 2018, 11:16

Concerns Force India could become a ‘B-team’ of Mercedes led its rivals to insist the team retain ‘Force India’ within its name. This is understood to be out of a belief Mercedes does not wish to be too closely associated with a brand which is seen as having been tainted by the actions of its former owners.

Keith I don’t quite understand this last paragraph, can you explain better?
1. Phylyp (@phylyp)
  24th August 2018, 11:30
  
  @marciare-o-marcire – I believe the last paragraph means that the name “Force India” is closely associated with Vijay Mallya’s wrongdoings (and probably Subroto Roy as well); and that by forcing the new entity to continue having that name, it might dissuade Mercedes (from a PR perspective) from being closely linked with it the way Ferrari and Haas are.
  
  Imagine (for instance), if the Haas team wasn’t owned by Gene Haas, but was instead named “Trump F1 team” owned by a member of the core Trump family. That would probably give a team like Ferrari pause in terms of being associated with it, a problem they don’t have today.
  1. pSynrg (@psynrg)
    24th August 2018, 12:14
    
    @phylyp LMAO. Trump F1 team, perfect illustration.
  2. Marciare_o_Marcire (@marciare-o-marcire)
    27th August 2018, 11:20
    
    Why would Ferrari have a problem with being associated with a “Trump F1 team”? If anything, they’d be proud.
2. Patrick (@paeschli)
  24th August 2018, 21:08
  
  “This is understood” sounds so vague tho’. Is this pure speculation by Keith? Is that what people are saying around the paddock? I feel like the source of this should be named somehow.
Gary
24th August 2018, 11:59

If that was the other teams’ objective they should have forced them to race under the banner “Racing Point Cadillac”
1. Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
  24th August 2018, 12:37
  
  Racing Point “Pink” Cadillac perhaps? :)
Michael Brown (@)
24th August 2018, 12:36

Must have been hard for Williams and McLaren, who saw their only chance to beat RPFI.
dusty (@dusty)
24th August 2018, 13:05

Concerns Force India could become a ‘B-team’ of Mercedes led its rivals to insist the team retain ‘Force India’ within its name. This is understood to be out of a belief Mercedes does not wish to be too closely associated with a brand which is seen as having been tainted by the actions of its former owners.

wow this bit at the end casually presented as a fact. Very nice…
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
24th August 2018, 13:18

That’s the spirit! This makes me want to watch F1 more than anything and gives me hope that the teams and Liberty will work things out.

Very gracious and sporting of some teams that are themselves currently struggling.
1. Lancer033 (@lancer033)
  24th August 2018, 13:51
  
  more likely they’re just hoping to set a precedent for when the same thing happens to them.
Garns (@)
24th August 2018, 14:24

This is good, real good. Great work from all others teams for that, kudos!
We need 13 teams on the grid and this goes a long way, not to making 13 teams happen, but not losing one!
Race time.
RF
24th August 2018, 14:25

So, is this obligation to keep Force India in the name for x amount of seasons, or just the remaining few months of the current championship? If the latter, seems a bit pointless given the apparent motive
1. ColdFly (@)
  24th August 2018, 14:47
  
  AFAIK the reason they keep ‘Force India’ in the name is a requirement by FIA. Every Team (entrant) needs to have the name of the chassis in it’s team name. The chassis is called ‘Force India’ according to the official FIA entry list, and a chassis cannot be renamed within a season.
  1. MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
    24th August 2018, 17:04
    
    Exactly the comment I was going to make — the regulations require “force india” in the name, not any political decision at all. The “chassis name” is fixed, just like the “engine name”.
    The entry form is Appendix B of the Sporting Regulations, and the official FIA entry list has been updated with the new name:
    https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-championship/season-2018/2018-fia-formula-one-world-championship-entry
2. Patrick (@paeschli)
  24th August 2018, 21:05
  
  Even if they name the team “Racing Point” next year, it’s still an awful name.
  
  Just name it Stroll GP, sounds way better
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
24th August 2018, 14:31

I think this is a great compromise for a “new” team. Kudos to the teams for this unanimous agreement.
Shimks (@shimks)
24th August 2018, 14:42

I’m not particularly interested in records myself but I guess Racing Point is going to break quite a few points scoring records for a new team?
1. LasseL
  25th August 2018, 14:38
  
  I believe Brawn GP has set some records in that category which Racing Point will find hard to break …
OOliver
24th August 2018, 17:33

I don’t think Force India was mismanaged. Look at Mclaren with all its resources and a premium brand, yet finding it hard to secure sponsorship.
No matter how maligned the character of Vijay, he did secure the services of competent managers and the team has punched above their weight.
A Formula1 team is not a business that can be run profitably unless someone somewhere is throwing in a lot of money. And if no one is throwing in that money, you have a crisis, even if you have many teens if millions owed you by the organisers, redeemable at a future date.
Patrick (@paeschli)
24th August 2018, 21:03

Racing Point(less) Force India is a mouthful. Surely they’ll change their name next year?
1. David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
  25th August 2018, 5:42
  
  @paeschli That’s actually not more syllables than Bernie’s old team (Motor Racing Development)
Richard Shaw (@kneegnaw)
24th August 2018, 23:19

Does anyone what the PU allocations for the Racing point drivers as The sporting code says Unless he drives for more than one team (see 23.3(c) below), and subject to the additions described below, each driver may use no more than 3 engines (ICE), 3 motor generator units-heat (MGU-H), 3 turbochargers (TC), 2 energy stores (ES), 2 control electronics (CE) and 2 motor generator units-kinetic (MGU-K) during a Championship.at
Does this mean that they get three new engines for the rest of the season?
1. DB-C90 (@dbradock)
  25th August 2018, 3:39
  
  @kneegnaw that’s been clarified now. They don’t get a reset and the current numbers of components used continues for them.

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