Spyker Sold :(

[checkered]

I see a lot of

people are very opinionated, pro or con. I think Vijay Mallya would find it pretty unfair if all of India's problems were pinned on him personally. Anyone would. And in the end we're all responsible for all people on Earth being equal to the degree that basic rights are secured and absolute poverty is eradicated. Mallya, being a man of resources, could of course be seen as more responsible because of his wealth. But who's to say he isn't?

Evaluating things, even only superficially, reveals a complex picture. India has a long tradition being in the very top of mathematical advances and applications. Looking at history, they were very advanced in things like metallurgy and home to some of the very earliest prosperous urban settlements. Contemporary India boasts a middle class of 200 to 300 MILLION people, a number which is steadily growing. I think India can't advance merely by everyone going to farm their fields. (Isn't that pretty much what academics and students in China were forced to do in the "Great Leap Forward" that killed millions?)

India, as is any other country, is entitled to seek (peaceful and ecological, preferrably) advances anywhere they please. The country has a huge talent pool, and if it hasn't yet one in drivers, I hope and trust Mallya recognizes that, too, and invests in lower tier motorsport in his home country too in the hopes of developing one. Meanwhile I can't see a reason to question his motivation or India's role or contribution to F1 merely by supposing things, or assigning them an arbitrary role in the World.

The entirety of F1 will appraise Mallya's personal judgement and team owner capabilities soon enough.

[kurtiejjj]

I think the spyker name will be retained, remember its a consortium of mol and that indian chap, and as the Mol family also owns a huge stake in spyker cars nv I'm sure they will come to some kind of agreement for using spykers logo, I mean it will be a great marketing value for both. Spyker cars have the 'eyeballs' they were hoping for and spyker F1 has the added 'magic' around the marquee which is surely more interesting for merchandise etc than calling it Mallya, which sounds like a tropical disease!

[jddh1]

Spyker India, perhaps?

[modbaraban]

Spyker India, perhaps?

Lol, maybe they'll just paint a little red dot on the visors?

[GTO]

I must say this Spyker buyout topic has generated quite a number of comments which seem quite racist & politically pessimistic from individuals that are supposed to be racing enthusiasts first.

What difference does it make the nationality of the person(s) or business financing an F1 or any racing series. The only concern should be that they will field a stable, competitive team to the sport. Open your eyes & look beyond borders. Currently there are teams with financial backing from companies in Holland, Japan, Germany, England, Bahrain, Italy, UAE, France, and Austria.

Was there any uproar over Austrian businessman and racing enthusiast Dietrich Mateschitz, who's company bought not one but two F1 teams? What has his two teams done so far, besides throwing around a lot of money, beautiful glamour girls & lavish parties to promote his company's drink product in the F1 stage? The same can be said (minus the girls & parties) about 2 Japanese teams.

Does this mean F1 should ban rich people & business to enter F1? Certainly not. The world of racing is changing. It is the nature of the current beast. Gone are the days of Bruce McLaren, and Jack Brabham. Perhaps it's is now the days of businessmen like Dietrich Mateschitz, and Vijay Mallya who may simply like the motor racing scene and see it as an opportunity to promote and advertise their bussiness through a medium they enjoy being in. If they or other companies want to blow a lot of money & use F1 racing to promote their product. What's the big deal?

Let's give these men credit for being bold in investing in their passions not scorn.

[Tom]

Does this mean F1 should ban rich people & business to enter F1? Certainly not. The world of racing is changing. It is the nature of the current beast. Gone are the days of Bruce McLaren, and Jack Brabham. Perhaps it's is now the days of businessmen like Dietrich Mateschitz, and Vijay Mallya who may simply like the motor racing scene and see it as an opportunity to promote and advertise their bussiness through a medium they enjoy being in.

All very well and good but thats not the F1 world I joined. The reason I became interested in the sport was because there were some exotic teams like McLaren running Mercedes engines and Ferrari, then there were the proffessional privateers like Williams and Saulber, then there were the enthusiastic amatures who probably made huge losses each year with little result, but hell they loved racing, these consisted of Jordan, Arrows and even Minardi.
Then came BMW, Toyota and Honda. All companies running cars your neighbour drives, dull boring ordinary teams pumping money into the sport for the purpose of making profits alone, not because of their racing spirit. Then came the bussinessmen who saw it wasn't just car companys that could make profit in the sport but them too. They don't know or care about the sport as long as it means their paycheck is bigger the next day.

We saw proof of this at the Turkish GP where Martin interviewed some chick on the grid who told everyone how much she loved F1, followed it all her life, etc etc. Then Martin asked who her favorite driver was...[embarassed pause]...'I like them all, ya'know?'
Martin pushes: 'You must have a favortite?'
[girl tries to think of a name besides Shumacher]'No, I love em all!'
I very much doubt she was there for anything other than PR, even my dad spotted that one.

You say its their passion but I really can't believe that. They may be friends with Bernie through their billionairs club but thats as close as they get to an interest in our sport.

[manchild]

Tom, check your curly boyish hair. Has it become gray overnight? Just kidding, just kidding!

Very mature and sensible post. Couldn't agree more. =D>

[Ciro Pabón]

Well, you know how pit babes are.

Maybe she meant to say "I loved them all... and Coulthard, twice!"

OT, yes, there are people that think that rich people and business should be banned from sports, but we are less and less every day. My friend Mr. Coubertin is dead, sadly.

About an hindu buying Spyker, well... it's not like India buying Spyker, isn't it? The later is significant, the former a detail. People should be judged by its merits. Here are my two cents (well, or my two apples... ): "you will know them by their fruits"

If this new Dodi Al Fayed gets a podium or something, or the team seem mightly interested in what they're doing (like Minardi or Lola), he has all my respect, even if he was born in Mars. If he doesn't, well, he doesn't have all my respect, just a majority of it. Now, if his son gets Camilla Parker to fall in love with him, I could change my mind...

[vs331]

... About an hindu buying Spyker, well... it's not like India buying Spyker, isn't it?...

Wow , what has religion got to do with F1??

Anyway, for all the bigots in this thread, whether you like it or not an Indian is going to own an F1 team and there will be atleast one Indian driver in F1 next year Remember this is F1 "world" championship and not F1 "European" championship

[mx_tifoso]

I was trying my hardest to avoid commenting on this thread....

Neither religion, ethnicity, or nationality really matter in this situation at Spyker. What seems to be the problem is that we do not know what Mr. Vijay Mallya's intentions are in purchasing an F1 racing team. To many of us it appears that he is simply in it for the profitable side of the sport, a business man at heart. And not for the reasons we all hope a race team owner should have, deep passionate obsession with motorsport.
Whether Mr. Vijay Mallya is getting into F1 as a hobby, business, or "passion", we do not really know. But as long as Spyker remains true to its origin and remains racing in F1, I don't see a future problem.

And whether they have an Indian driver or not, only India wants that because they are Indian. He better have the abilities to deserve the drive, or else stop wasting a race seat and give it to who ever else really deserves it. Same goes for every single driver on the grid, regardless of their nationality.

On the bright side, it seems Sutil will most likely remain at Spyker for at least '08.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62064

[modbaraban]

I was trying my hardest to avoid commenting on this thread....

I even wrote a post and then backed off yesterday... hoping that others will do the same.

....and there will be atleast one Indian driver in F1 next year Remember this is F1 "world" championship and not F1 "European" championship

See the problem is not with his nationality, the problem is that he's there mostly BECAUSE of his nationality It's simple. T.Monteiro was way better than Narain when they were team mates. Why Monteiro isn't racing for Spyker in 2008? Yup, he isn't Indian!

[mcdenife]

It is very difficult not to see some comments (albeit unintentional) as racist.

modbaraban wrote

See the problem is not with his nationality, the problem is that he's there mostly BECAUSE of his nationality Rolling Eyes It's simple. T.Monteiro was way better than Narain when they were team mates. Why Monteiro isn't racing for Spyker in 2008? Yup, he isn't Indian!

Is he out this year also because he is not Indian?

mx_tifosi wrote

What seems to be the problem is that we do not know what Mr. Vijay Mallya's intentions are in purchasing an F1 racing team. To many of us it appears that he is simply in it for the profitable side of the sport, a business man at heart.

Shouldnt matter if he simply in it for the profits or if he is a busineman at heart. If this is the case, how is he different from the head honcho at Red Bull?

Manchild wrote

I just love "honest" billionaires from a countries where most of the population struggles to survive every day. The very reason for their "success" lies exactly in poverty of enslaved and robbed population.

What does this mean? That because there are many poor people in his country or that because he is indian he cannot have acquired his wealth legitimately? That he robbed and exploited his people to become wealthy?

[modbaraban]

modbaraban wrote

See the problem is not with his nationality, the problem is that he's there mostly BECAUSE of his nationality Rolling Eyes It's simple. T.Monteiro was way better than Narain when they were team mates. Why Monteiro isn't racing for Spyker in 2008? Yup, he isn't Indian!

Is he out this year also because he is not Indian?

He's not Dutch either, and nor that big prospect like Sutil.

[mx_tifoso]

mx_tifosi wrote

What seems to be the problem is that we do not know what Mr. Vijay Mallya's intentions are in purchasing an F1 racing team. To many of us it appears that he is simply in it for the profitable side of the sport, a business man at heart.

Shouldnt matter if he simply in it for the profits or if he is a busineman at heart. If this is the case, how is he different from the head honcho at Red Bull?

Mr.Vijay Mallya isn't that much different from the head honcho at RBR, that is not saying much for him is it.

There will always be people in F1 simply for the money side of it, not because they love it, or feel it running through their veins. And because of that, I'm sure that many other people without the financial resources would do better in Mr. Vijay Mallya's, or Dietrich Mateschitz's shoes.

People like them take a superficial interest in F1, or simply see owning a race team as a "good" investment, to me that is certainly not respectable. I would respect them more if they actually had the passion for F1, including its past, present and hopefully its bright future.

Chances are that Spyker will most likely have different owner in five years time.

[dumrick]

My question is a totally different one: this is the Mr. Vijay Mallya that is the president of Kingfisher Airlines and has thrown multi-million dollar parties at Monaco this year, right? They have a 3-year sponsoring contract with Toyota that is considered to be worth around 10-15 million dollars per year, that still has two years to run.
How are these investments be managed and justified? And what kind of strategy are we talking about here? A medium-term compromise with a team and, the same year, deciding that is better to but altogether another one? We are talking about conciliating a sponsorship position with an ownership position between two different F1 teams, I guess this is unprecedented. Also, I've been checking and Kingfisher Airlines exists since... May 2005! Call me old school, but aviation is not software or biotechnology and there have been bubbles lasting longer...
Not that I'm fearing for the financial wealth of Toyota...