Mallya paves way for F1 team to be a force without India

an.rKanthan is also sole director of Force One Consultancy, a company set up on June 2.rMallya was quoted on June 14 as saying he was considering changing the name of the Silverstone-based team to make it more attractive to potential sponsors and give it more of an “international flavour”.r“There are some people who believe the current name Force India is restrictive psychologically,” he told Motorsport.com.r“I’m considering along with the other shareholders what steps to take but it’s a major decision and one that is not going to be taken in a hurry without due consideration.”rIndia has accused Mallya of fraud and is seeking the 61-year-old’s extradition after he fled to Britain in March last year.rBanks are seeking to recover about $1.4 billion that the Indian authorities say Kingfisher owes. Mallya has repeatedly dismissed the charges against him.rMallya attended only one Formula One race last year -- the British Grand Prix over the road from his team’s factory. He said this month that there were no plans to sell the team, however.rAny application for a name change would have to be approved by the governing FIA and other teams through the Formula One Commission.r“Force India was born out of Vijay owning the team,” chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer told motorsport.com on Wednesday.r“Since then we’ve lost the Grand Prix there (in India), the Indian sponsors no longer were interested in sponsoring us. Now we have no Indian sponsors whatsoever, apart from Vijay’s Kingfisher.r“So it kind of makes sense to change it from India in order to attract sponsors more globally, and not restrict ourselves to being Force India.”