mx_tifosi wrote:Now on the other hand, Vijay Mallya has used the millions he already had to purchase a complete team without ever even lending a thought to the design departments. He sees F1 as another market for him and the ever growing country of India to get into, and in IMO, thats what fails to be respectful. Thats why I predict he will not last any longer than 2-4 seasons here, hopefully. And this is what seperates him from Ferrari, McLaren, Sauber, Ford, these teams have seen years and years of failure, but they remain active until our present day. Can anyone else see FIF1 last even half a decade? I bet not.
I think doubling
the team's budget for this year is lending a bit more than just a
thought to the "design departments". What comes to F1's marketability in India, well, Mallya saw an opening and seized it - but he hardly singlehandedly built that market opportunity. For all his supposed self promotion he must undestand and accept that or face the self-evident consequences, it's up to him really. Our opinions matter none too much when it comes to the viability of the team in its current form - the general shape of F1 will be the measure of that. Yes, many high profile teams, venerable in their illustrious histories, have endured hardship, ill fortune and poor competitive form to survive and thrive again. Am I to take it that this line of criticisms is to end in, say, 20 years' time at which point FIF1 will have been able to accumulate the very best and the absolute worst of the F1 experience? That will require some staying power from the critics as well.
manchild wrote:He has a first and last name but he isn't a constructor nor a team/brand founder! He can't be compared with Ferrari, Williams, Ford, Renault, Chapman, Benz, Honda, Toyoda, Mclaren and many others. He bought a team to show off while they built teams from their backyard sheds. Mallaya didn't by this team as a person/constructor but as a company owner. Naming a team Mallaya would be just fine naming a car VJM not. If he had however invested money in creation of new team that would be a completely different story. He has no heritage and wants to leave impression that he has same heritage as teams and companies that are decades or even over one century old.
The "Force India" (and "Kingfisher", for that matter) is an original brand. I agree about the comparisons being pretty difficult but the remaining one, the one you point out - namely that more established teams are easier to compare while FIF1 is not - is in fact neutral. To label that either negative or positive seems like a rush to judgement (or a prejudgement) since as we discuss this, Force India has yet to take to track in anger. Fine, if I ever buy a team and let someone else design the cars, I won't put my initials into the designation as Mallya seems to have done. But even if it's seen as a gaffe, is it really necessary to portray it as a faux pas indicative of every aspect of the team and its "worthiness"? Again, the guy doubled the budget.
Mallya does have a history in F1, if only as a sponsor (Remember those Kingfisher logos adorning Toyota's cars?); India's motor sports history doesn't extend as far back as some others' (How could it, considering the nation was under the British Raj until just three years prior to the first modern F1 championship?) - the FMSCI seems to have been founded only in 1971. The BRDC, in comparison, was founded in 1928. So is it any wonder that the team draws from a slightly more extended identity than a team established by its history and record? Sure, the way it's been done can be criticised, but equally making blanket statements risks giving the impression that Indians for some reason are not to involve themselves in F1.
Besides (and I'm not such an ardent study of history that I could state this for sure), I think there's a good chance that people inhabiting the Indus valley raced oxen or horses (with or without carts) before - or at least at the same time - as in any part of Europe. It's just a question of perspective, then. Look, I'm not trying to say that Force India is the perfect team, beyond reproach or criticism. But understand that the way I read some of the stuff here I'm beginning to feel some obligation to balance the equation with arguments which to my subjective understanding seem plausible or defendable.
This is not to say that Force India or its fans (or any other team) needed to be defended. I just don't see the reason to single out and exclude FIF1 and/or anything/anyone to do with it from the wider context of what F1 is out of hand. Indeed, I feel that some of the commentary here is based on a preconception (or two) of what kind of people are interested in and supportive of FIF1. Jump to those kinds of conclusions at your own peril. On my part, I welcome the challenges FIF1 brings.
For some odd reason that livery reminds me of a beer bottle............mmmmmmmmmm beer. 
