The team has slipped from fourth in the constructors’ championship – for two years running – to sixth as 2018 reaches its midway point. The team principal, unable to attend all but one race per year due to ongoing legal problems, stepped down as managing director earlier this year.

But Vijay Mallya believes there’s “light at the end of the tunnel” for Force India, as he told @DieterRencken in an exclusive interview.

Vijay Mallya has two sporting passions: cricket and motor racing, both activities he fell in love with at an early age. Born into a family of substantial wealth – acquired initially from liquor trading – the now 62-year-old had the means to pursue both sports as competitor and team owner, having variously raced in Indian Formula Libre using Ensign F1 (and other) chassis.

In 1996, during Benetton’s post-Michael Schumacher era, Mallya’s Kingfisher lager brand sponsored the team, while 11 years later Toyota’s TF107 carried “Fly Kingfisher” messages in a deal said to have been brokered by then-F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone, who had previously acquired one of the few surviving Vanwalls from Mallya.

Mallya was also India’s nominee to the FIA World Motorsport Council, a post he relinquished on July 2017 after his legal battles confined him to London, where he was based when his passports were seized – see below.

Still, there were no doubts about Mallya’s F1 credentials when he acquired ailing Spyker (ex-Midland, originally Jordan) in late-2007. Mallya acquired 70 per cent of the team’s equity with the Dutch Mol family, previously shareholders in Spyker, holding the remaining 30 per cent. After a debt-for-equity swap this split was, over time, diluted to 85/15, with Mallya selling half of his stake to Sahara Group’s Subrata Roy in 2011.

Entering the sport as an independent carried considerable risk, for at the time the sport was (over) populated by manufacturer teams: BMW Sauber, Toyota, Honda and Renault, while Fiat overtly backed Ferrari, while McLaren enjoyed an equity relationship with Mercedes. The independent faction consisted of Williams, two Red Bull-owned outfits, Super Aguri – and Spyker, which languished behind Honda’s semi-satellite team.

Indeed, in the 2007 constructors’ classification Spyker placed 10th. However, McLaren was excluded from the points standing due to “Spygate”, meaning in real terms the team Mallya had just bought ended its previous campaign 11th and plumb last…

Following the team’s acquisition Force India endured 29 races without scoring a point. Then it hit a double jackpot: pole position and second overall in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix with Giancarlo Fisichella – who lost an early lead to eventual winner Kimi Räikkönen – followed by fourth in Italy via Adrian Sutil. Tenth place in the overall classification was the result – ahead of Super Aguri.

The following year brought ninth place, ahead of Toro Rosso, and so began Force India’s climb up the rankings: seventh and sixth in 2010/11 respectively; same again in 2012/3, followed by sixth in 2014. The next three years saw Force India place fifth, much to the chagrin of the majors, for as top-placed ‘outsider’ Force India now qualified for a seat on the Strategy Group. This was followed by two fourths. Currently, at the midway point in 2018, it lies sixth.

Why this history lesson? These statistics are crucial to answers provided to questions I pose to Mallya as we sit in Force India’s ‘Pink Palace’ – so named in deference to sponsor BWT – shortly before the start of the British Grand Prix. It’s no secret that he is currently fighting extradition proceedings to India in London, so cannot travel – and this visit marks his first grand prix attendance in 12 months.

Despite serious fraud allegations – denied vociferously – Mallya is relaxed. He speaks slowly and deliberately throughout, pausing occasionally only to add emphasis, not to backtrack. The charges he faces centre mainly on the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines, which commenced flying in 2005, grew into India’s second largest airline, then hit trouble as the global economic crisis bit and caused numerous airlines to fail.

He believes himself to be largely a victim of economic circumstance and Indian politicking, having been an MP as both independent member and party representative. Whatever the legalities (and politics) – which have no bearing on F1 – he has been hounded within and without India, and recently issued a lengthy explanation on social media channels, stating that he put up the equivalent of $2 billion as securities in settlement.

This was verified by a Reuters reporter based in India, who, however, added the caveat that “some of the security is in the form of attached assets”, but did confirm that these assets indeed belong(ed) to Mallya or associated companies. Still, the matter rumbles on; so do my questions: Is Force India’s asset base included in the $2bn?

“Absolutely not,” he says. “These are Indian assets only. [The matter concerns] Indian banks, Indian loans, Indian borrower, Kingfisher Airlines Limited, backed by assets in India. Why shift the problem overseas?”

To compound issues, Roy faces challenges of his own, including allegations that he failed to return funds to investors, and subsequent incarceration after he failed to appear in court to answer the charges. He is currently out on parole; thus clearly not in a position to contribute to Force India’s finances and/or activities.

Regardless, Mallya, who recently stood down as managing director of Force India, is the team’s driving force, and in the worst-case scenario his fate could conceivably affect the team. Thus I ask whether he has secured the team’s future regardless of his fate.

A pause makes clear he has grown weary of this must-ask question, then: “Absolutely, that’s always been the case. I mean, the problems that Sahara and me are confronted with are not new; they’ve been going on for over three years. And, within this period we finished fourth in the world championship two years in a row. So, that in itself is pretty obvious that our troubles are not affecting the team.”

Surely, though, he is feeling the pinch, and is no longer in a position to underwrite Force India’s activities, whether via loans or sponsorship from associated companies?

“No, that’s not true,” he shoots back. “Two weeks ago I put two billion dollars’ worth of assets in front of the High Court. I asked them to be sold under judicial supervision to pay off everybody, all the claimants, and to return the balance.

“Bottom line is I have the assets, which I’ve offered before the court – [the list is] there for the world to see. On the other hand, as far as the team is concerned we have much bigger sponsors, external sponsors other than internal sponsors, than we’ve had before. So you see the economics, how they work.”

True, the team has virtually no visible Mallya- or Sahara-related funding, now relying mainly on external sponsors such as BWT and driver-linked support, attracted primarily by Sergio Perez. (Note: there is a substantial difference between pay-drivers and those whose performance attract sponsors willing to be associated with them. Fernando Alonso is one such example, Valtteri Bottas another, and Perez yet another.)

“At the end of the day [the backing] is mostly external, now, which has changed over the last two years or three years. Of course, prior to three years [ago] it was the other way around,” he says.

“The management team’s objective is to make the team self-sustaining and not to rely every year on shareholder support. I mean, why are the shareholders owners of a Formula One team? Not to keep dipping into their pockets to have two cars run around.

“So ultimately the objective is that the performance should justify sponsorship, which in turn will justify the economics.”

What about the team’s alleged debts, any comment?

“There is no debt,” Mallya shoots back. There is no external borrowing at all. Zero. Obviously we have creditors, any running business owes money to creditors.”

“Any running business owes money to creditors,” he repeats.

He concedes that some accounts “are more overdue than others”, but adds “there’s nothing that has showed up in 2018.”

Let us, then, put the numbers to the test: Last year the team’s budget ran to £97m, including £55m from in F1 revenues – leaving the team to find £42m. Sponsor income (BWT plus various smaller income streams) contribute an estimated £35m, leaving a shortfall of £7m – in turn funded partly by third-party income (test drivers, miscellaneous income) and shareholders, if required.

While Mallya’s point is taken, the fact is that over the past ten years, since he (and other shareholders) bought into the team F1’s economic and political landscapes have changed totally, what with the excessive bonuses – some of which amount to more than Force India’s entire annual budget – being paid to major teams and their membership by right of the Strategy Group.

Can Force India survive until sanity prevails at Formula One Management from 2021, and revenues are expected to be disbursed on a purely performance basis rather on increasingly nebulous “heritage”?

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“As I basically said during one of our internal discussions, there’s two more years of pain with this grossly unfair imbalance in the income distribution,” he says. “And from 2021, as discussed in Bahrain [where FOM presented its proposed post-2020 structures], when things get smoothed out, yes. We have a lot to look forward to in terms of the [re] distribution of the prize fund.

Could this be the reason for his refusal to entertain genuine and speculative offers to purchase the team, of which I know of at least one of each, in the belief that its value will rise once equitable revenues are paid by FOM?

“There is light at the end of the tunnel; any prospective buyer I think will have also seen that,” he agrees. “With far more income, obviously the value of the team goes up, and until then we are used to, culturally, working off a tight budget and extracting the maximum performance out of that tight budget.”

There is no arguing with that: over the past three years Force India has consistently been the best team in terms of ‘bang for bucks’ and, on current performance, could do so again in 2018.

Mallya’s resignation as managing director prompted a fresh wave of speculation over the team’s future. He down-plays the significance of the move.

“Yes… as a director, [I’m] not on the board. But you know, at the end of the day, if you walk up and down this paddock, how many members of the board of directors of anyone of these companies do you see? At the end of the day, in this sport and on matters relevant to the sport, such as the F1 Strategy Group, the F1 Commission et cetera, it is a team principal format and I am team principal. Simple.”

True, but is his specific case not slightly different in that he can’t travel to races, or FIA or F1 Commission meetings unless held in the United Kingdom? Who then carries the responsibility and authority?

“Otmar goes; Bob goes,” he says, name-checking chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer and deputy team principal Robert Fernley respectively. The latter is his friend and confidante of over 30 years, whom Mallya met during his Ensign forays, a former F2 racer who sold used racing cars before founding his own IndyCar team.

Do Szafnauer and Fernley have full authority to act, or do they report back first?

“On issues, on sporting regulations, on technical regulations, we have protocols,” he explains. “If the matter concerns technical regulations, then obviously (technical director) Andrew Green is consulted, his inputs are taken. Otmar, Bob and me discuss, and then we put forth Force India’s point of view.

“When it comes to sporting regulations, Andy Stevenson is obviously consulted and involved; we collectively decide and put forth Force India’s point of view.”

The protocols appear to work given the team’s on-track performance and political standing. But why resign?

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“It was a question of in India you have to declare all your directorships. If you’re a director of an Indian company, you have to fill up forms that disclose your global directorships, all the time. Globally, you have to. So I’ve quit most of the boards because there’s no point wasting time in just filling up one form after another. It’s [im]practical.”

However, Mallya adds, he is very much in control, insisting his shareholders trust him and denying that his resignation is linked to negative perceptions due to his links with the team.

“I’m not going to analyse it or comment on it,” he responds. Invited to address the speculation, he adds: “I don’t know who gave that reason, but here I am, sitting as team principal, and to me the sport and our participation in this sport is what matters.

“Let’s add another dimension to your questions. If you are suggesting that my ownership in this team is potentially under threat or at risk, it’s only 42.5%. The other two have 57.5% majority control.”

But how realistic is that threat to his position at Force India?

“It’s all a legal process now. That’s going to be decided by courts going forward. As long as the judicial process takes. I’ve tried to put an offer together by offering two billion dollars’ [equivalent] of assets in front of the High Court in India, and hopefully the judges will look at it positively, and if everybody is paid and everybody is happy, hopefully these problems should go away.”

So, if it the offer is accepted it will be business as usual?

“Hopefully, yes.”

What sort of time frame?

“I don’t know. It’s in the hands of the judiciary.”

With that Vijay Mallya prepares for the pit wall for the first time in 12 months. Right now his life sure ain’t cricket…

Go ad-free for just £1 per month >> Find out more and sign up

Follow Dieter on Twitter: @RacingLines

RacingLines