Mallya points the finger at ‘none other than’ Perez
Vijay Mallya points the finger at 'none other than' Sergio Perez
Vijay Mallya says “none other than our driver Sergio Perez” instigated the proceedings that resulted in Force India being placed into administration on Friday.
News broke at the Hungaroring that Force India are in administration following court proceedings earlier in the week.
The reports claimed that it was triggered by Perez, who is owed £3 million by his employees.
He, however, is not the only party that Force India owe money to with engine supplier Mercedes and main sponsor BWT also in the mix.
It seems Mallya is not impressed with his driver wanting the money owed to him.
“Force India Formula One was placed into ‘administration’ today by the court based on a petition filed by none other than our driver Sergio Perez,” said Mallya in a letter to the team’s staff seen by RaceFans.net.
“Surprisingly BWT jumped in and claimed that their sponsorship amounts were loans which is ridiculous as our entire car is pink with BWT branding.”
Mallya revealed that those three have small parts with Force India’s holding company owed £159 million.
He added: “Our holding company is the largest creditor by far with over £159 million outstanding and the largest of the smaller creditors has an outstanding of less than £10 million. The administrator is obliged to recognise this ratio.
“So what does this actually mean. The administrator must secure creditor interests and find a viable financial solution going forward.
“Our holding company will work with the administrator to take the team out of administration or sell the team at the best possible price which the administrator is obliged to do in any case with a creditor vote where our holding company is by far the largest.
“The team keeps running and hopefully performing and both [deputy team principal] Bob [Fernley] and myself are in our positions.”
In a twist, Rich Energy, who have long been rumoured to be wanting to buy-out the Formula 1 team, revealed they had plugged £30m into Force India – and yet the team is still in trouble.
Despite a last minute £30m cash injection from @rich_energy the court has today put @ForceIndiaF1 into administration. A tragic and avoidable outcome orchestrated by @MercedesAMGF1 @SChecoPerez , Julian Jakobi and BWT. Disgraceful pic.twitter.com/2E9N9WPmKy
— Rich Energy (@rich_energy) July 27, 2018
Force India’s administrators FRP Advisory are keen to ensure that it remains “business as usual” throughout the administration process with several parties linked to buy-outs or buy-ins of the team.
“We shall be engaging with key stakeholders on an urgent basis to secure the best outcome for creditors,” said joint administrator Geoff Rowley in a statement.
“In the meantime, the team will continue to operate as normal, including racing in Hungary this weekend.
“Our aim is for business as usual whilst we assess options to secure the future of the team.”
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