Narain’s hopes diminish after a Russian investor comes into the picture even as Mallya looks to take Aguri off F1 itself
Narain’s hopes diminish after a Russian investor comes into the picture even as Mallya looks to take Aguri off F1 itself
MUMBAI: The second Indian connection to F1 vis-à-vis the Super Aguri team may lose the spice and become a dampener to Narain Karthikeyan’s hopes for a drive.
After reports surfaced that Spice Energy had almost ‘closed’ a deal to take over the Super Aguri F1 team, it now emerges that a Russian consortium has initiated a bid to take over the Japanese outfit.
It also transpires that the cash-strapped Aguri cannot, in any case, be in talks with an Indian company, since its shares are already ‘pledged’ to the Force India team, owned by Vijay Mallya.
And the liquor baron is not keen on funding two teams even though Aguri has defaulted on a $69m loan it took from Spyker, Force India’s previous avatar, in the past.
Though Mallya could not be reached despite several attempts, sources said that the UB Group was, in fact, intent on pursuing an arbitration case that has also been filed against Aguri and Toro Rosso. The two teams along with Force India are the three bottom-placed teams on the constructors’ championships in F1.
Except for Force, the other two cars are actually borrowed engines from Honda and Red Bull respectively. And the rules in F1 clearly state that such ‘customer cars’ cannot qualify for any points, and which formulate the basis of argument in Force India’s arbitration case.
“We are of the opinion that Aguri and Toro Rosso cannot be part of F1 as per the provisions in the Concorde Agreement. Given a choice, we want them out, for sure. The lesser the competition, the better,” said a source in the UB Group.
That may not be easy though with the FIA dragging its feet what with the numbers fast dwindling in the field of F1 and a prospective team in Prodrive also waiting in the wings only if the clause on customer cars is relaxed.
Neither Aguri nor Force India were willing to comment on the case since the matter is sub-judice. “We have been advised by the legal team not to comment on the matter,” said Emma Bearpark, the spokesperson for Aguri, who were provisionally cleared to race in a related development on Friday.
The Aguri team was also not forthcoming on its prospective investors nor about the car details. They refused to also comment on whether Force India will have a say on the investor/s who might bail out Aguri in the near future.
But team owner Aguri Suzuki did hint that the Spice Energy deal is going nowhere and that a new investor has shown interest. “We are holding talks with a few companies which have not been mentioned before. I don’t think we will have a contract with any of the rumoured ones. We have had talks with them but various factors have cropped up,” he said without revealing anything further.
The Spice Energy spokesperson refused to answer DNA’s calls.
Suzuki also confirmed his outfit intends to retain both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson on its drivers line-up. “It has not been formally decided yet but, basically, it will be the same as last year,” he said. Honda were against Karthikeyan coming on board.
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