Following its sole full season spent in the top flight last year prior to its sell-out to
Force India, the CEO of Spyker Cars has acknowledged that the manufacturer's short-lived and virtually fruitless
F1 venture came close to bleeding it to death.
The Dutch concern took over from Midland F1 back in September of 2006, but in the 17 races that the bright orange machines graced the grand prix paddock only a single point was scored – courtesy of
Adrian Sutil in the rain-logged outing at Fuji – amidst persistent speculation that its parent group was in financial crisis.
Victor Muller has now admitted that it came as a relief to have offloaded the Silverstone-based outfit onto its fourth owner in as many years in the shape of Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, who purchased the struggling concern late last summer and has renamed it Force India ahead of the 2008 campaign. Since the sale, the specialist builder of hand-built sportscars is believed to be in better financial shape.
“
Formula 1 turned out to be a massive bleeder,” Muller admitted in an interview with
Automotive News Europe, “losing two million euros a month because some sponsors did not pay. That drained our production capital.”
Under the new ownership of Mallya and Michiel Mol – the latter already an incumbent of the Spyker days – Force India's F1 budget for 2008 is set to be as much as $50 million greater than it had been during the Spyker era.
“Seventy million dollars is barely enough to get to the races,” the team's chief technology officer Mike Gascoyne told
India Times. “[With the former budget] there's nothing left for research and development.”
