“The focus and attention now is: ‘What is Max's future?'”
The Scotsman quotes Mallya as having said. “It isn't that the popularity of the sport or its future is in question as a result of what has happened. Formula 1 is great, growing, very popular [and] fantastic, so business rises above it all.
“A hard-nosed businessman will make a decision on spending money in
Formula 1, irrespective of the Mosleys of this world. They are not going to dictate the economic benefits.
“It is very clear that Formula 1 in general is a huge advertising platform because of the number of eyes viewing the TV, second only to the Olympics and the World Cup. As a businessman, I have used Formula 1 as a platform for the past twelve years, and now other businesses can use
Force India as their platform to reach out.
“That is not going to be affected by Mosley or anybody else. I have my sponsors, and they don't really know who Mosley is [or] care who he is.”
Force India is the newest outfit on the
F1 grid, and with rising star Karun Chandhok – already a winner in GP2 – and an Indian Grand Prix on the horizon in 2010, sponsors, Mallya underlines, are falling at the team's feet, irrespective of the scandal swirling around the sport's president.
“You could ask the question as to what will the Indian public, fans and potential fans of F1 and Force India think?” the billionaire Kingfisher Airlines chief said. “Fortunately, Force India is insulated from it because people are generally proud that India has a team on the grid, something that has never happened before. It is a reflection of the new modern India and new modern Indian.”
Former grand prix driver Hans-Joachim Stuck, however, expressed a rather different view on the matter, revealing his surprise that Mosley did not step down immediately. The
FIA President is continuing to fight to hold onto his ever-more precarious position, even in the light of widespread criticism and condemnation from some of the sport's leading figures, car manufacturers and public bodies.
