Hulkenberg Denies Mallya Crisis To Sink Force India

[Dare]

   
 Hope it's not true,I've had a soft spot for FI ever since Fisi was there

 

Nico Hulkenberg has played down the link between Vijay Mallya's struggling Indian airline Kingfisher and the billionaire's Formula One team, Force India.

According to mainstream media reports, debt-ridden and loss-making Kingfisher is on the brink of collapse.

And new speculation swirling in the Melbourne paddock this weekend suggests the situation could affect Silverstone-based Force India.

"The rumors are nothing new," the team's new race driver Nico Hulkenberg told Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.

"The problems (with Kingfisher) have been there for over a year. But it's nothing to do with us, it's another business — this is Formula One, not an airline," said the German.

"I can't judge what is happening to his business. I just know that he (Mallya) is still motivated and for sure will be here for many races," added Hulkenberg, who qualified ninth for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

India's Economic Times this week reported that Mallya has pumped an extra $32 million into Force India via his personal investment company Watson and the sponsorship of Kingfisher's beer and spirit arm.

[Jugirl]

I hope Force India can stay in F1. I for one am looking forward to them trying to improve upon 6th place from last year

Ju

[cosworth151]

Mallya strikes me as a very sharp businessman. I think that he's smart enough to legally isolate each part of his empire from all the other parts and even himself. That would allow the airline to go bankrupt without effecting the team, the construction company, the investment house and so on. The link up with Sahara should also help the team weather the current storm.

[Scott]

I guess it's more a matter of them potentially losing their main sponsor.  Not sure he can convince the boards of one of his other businesses to lay out enough cash to keep it going. 

[Alianora La Canta]

Kingfisher the airline is in massive trouble, but if it falls the money will probably come from Kingfisher the beverage company instead. Unless Mallya himself gets into legal trouble from the fallout or mishandles the debt juggle so badly the loans for other parts of his empire start falling through, Force India should be safe.