Following in the footsteps of David Coulthard, who made an appearance last month, Force India boss, Dr Vijay Mallya, is to address the Oxford University Student Union on the 5th of March.
Let’s hope his chosen topic is not accountancy.
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Posts Tagged ‘Vijay Mallya’
Force India’s secret weapon for Suzuka
While Adrian Sutil did end up topping the time sheets for Fifi in practice two for the Japanese Grand Prix, it was actually his mechanics who set the fastest time in the sodden first half hour when they set a… paper boat off down the pitlane. The boat, a scale model of team owner, Vijay Mallya’s Indian Empress yacht, was going a treat past the Williams pit until a marshall stepped on it. Spoilsport.
How not to curry favour with the boss…
Despite them having the best weekend in their short history, positive karma is in short supply at Force India, as their director of business affairs, Ian Phillips, has found himself in very hot water with his boss Vijay Mallya.
Phillips ventured… the opinion, held by everybody else on the planet apart from Dr Mallya, that Giancarlo Fisichella would be a Ferrari driver within days, which caused the King of Bling to choke on his naan before issuing a rather stern riposte.
“Ian Philips’ comments do not reflect the views of the team since he is not the designated spokesperson, nor is he authorised to speak to the media. His comments should therefore be ignored,”
We’ll ignore him, but he’s still right…
It’s the Eddie Jordan Show
For some reason, the BBC decided that Spa had to be all about Eddie Jordan, who was allowed far more air time than is sensible to give an Irishman with an opinion. First, the nation, sitting down to Sunday lunch, had to endure him in his trunks, belly flopping into Rubens Barrichello’s pool before there was much buddy-buddy back slapping over a game of golf.
Add in the fact that one of ‘his’ drivers (did he mention that?) came second in the race driving a car from ‘his’ old team, only prevented from winning by ‘his’ pet hate of KER’s and you had EJ meltdown time.
After the race Jordan, plainly keen to try and take some credit for his old team’s success, was all smiles with Vijay Mallya, despite having dumped ten tons of concrete on the Force India driveway last year because of a dispute between the two. Normally Irishmen want to help you fix your drive, not wreck it but there you go.
More amusement was to come in the BBC post-race show from McLaren’s motorhome, when EJ suddenly announced that one of his ears had stopped working, only for Martin Brundle to helpfully suggest he tried using the other one, as he had two.
By this stage, Eddie had plainly had enough of his big day and seemed to doze off, dropping and breaking his microphone.
Thank goodness for small mercies…
Force India forced to find new home
The rarefied atmosphere of the F1 paddock was somewhat spoilt today with the discovery of a positively down at heel motorhome, parked in the spot where Force India’s opulent glass palace normally sits.
Apparently there was not enough time between the… Valencia and Spa events for the team to reconstruct VJ Mallya’s luxury pad, so there was a last minute panic to find an alternative, which was not easy with the Belgian Bank Holiday weekend fast approaching.
Why Fifi did not fancy Le Mans…
When Force India jumped off the FOTA ship and signed up for an unconditional entry to next year’s F1 World Championship, the reason given by the team was that if they did not, they would get it in the ear… from their bankers, sponsors and lawyers.
This may not have been the only reason, as our source reveals that Vijay Mallya, while initially interested in Luca di Montezemolo’s suggestion that the teams could all leave F1 and go to race at Le Mans, soon went off the idea when he realised doing this would not give him any chance next year to show off on his mega-yacht, the Indian Empress.
With Le Mans being 140 miles from the sea, the only place near the track to park the boat is a small lake at nearby Sille le Guillaume. The lake is not connected to any major river which makes getting the Empress to it tricky.
Mallya had considered constructing a canal from the sea to the lake before he realised that the construction of major waterways are not included in the budget proposals put forward by the FIA – so F1 it had to be..
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