The Force is not with India

It’s fair to say that Vijay Mallya, Force India’s team principle, is not much of a fan of his home nation of India at the moment.

He is currently the subject of a extradition effort to try to force his return from the United Kingdom to India to face charges of financial crimes.

So that man that founded the Force India Formula One team, alongside Dutch businessman Michiel Mol when they purchased the former Spyker F1 team [formally Jordan, Midland F1] for ?90 million in October 2007, is probably unlikely to want to have his Formula One team named after that country at the moment.

The fact that the team was pushed in that direction by former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone who wanted to break into that market, which didn’t really work is also another reason for a name change.

Sky Sports have reported that Dr Thiruvannamalai Lakshmi Kanthan, a long-time associate of Force India owner Vijay Mallya and director of the team has recently registered the names Force One Grand Prix, Force One Racing, Force One Team, Force One Technology, Force One Hospitality and Force One Brand with Companies House.

This would appear to suggest that a rebrand of the team from Force India to Force One appears to be on the cards, as suggested during last weekends street circuit race at Baku.

Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer has already confirmed dropping India makes sense to become a more global brand.

‘We used to have an Indian GP, we don’t anymore, we had Indian sponsors at one point and now we have none.

‘Sometimes India in the name will limit the opportunities, especially for sponsorship, so if we drop that it will broaden our horizons a bit and I think it makes sense.’

The move is likely to come at the end of the 2017 Formula One World Championship season.