Vijay Mallya is not in a hurry to have an Indian driver with him

Thus, the businessman is not particularly troubled by the fact that two other teams employ two of his compatriots because he believes that it does not benefit them to be engaged within structures with little future prospects, as he stated to Reuters: « Being criticized, mostly by Indians, is really unfair. My only response is that I know Formula One better than they do. As for the Indian drivers currently in Formula 1, I can only feel sorry for them. They have seats in teams that clearly cannot compete. If what they want is to drive a Formula One car just for the sake of driving one and to keep a low profile, there’s not much I can do. I’ve been involved in motorsports for over 30 years. I’ve done everything possible to promote motorsports in India. »

Thus, he draws a parallel with Ferrari, which has lacked a full-time Italian driver for decades (apart from the 2009 episode with the disastrous performances of Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella replacing Felipe Massa): If Ferrari is on the podium, all of Italy applauds. If Ferrari wins a race, all of Italy celebrates. No one ever questions where the Italian driver is. Why should it be different for India? Be happy that there is already an Indian team, carrying the colors of India on the grid. The Indian driver will follow, but don’t put the cart before the horse.

The businessman intends to bring an Indian driver into F1 in his own way, at his own pace, through his own structure. This is how Force India launched its own academy called “One in a Billion,” which aims to travel across India in search of the most talented drivers and support them throughout their training program to the pinnacle of world motorsport. Similar to what McLaren did with Lewis Hamilton: « What we are talking about is having a structured program very similar to what McLaren did with Lewis, and we hope to create a young, talented Indian driver capable of establishing himself and reaching Formula One. »

For him, one of the keys to bringing out new talents will be the upcoming Indian Grand Prix, which will introduce this myth to a very wide audience. This will surely be reinforced by a probable return of Narain Karthikeyan at the wheel of the HRT for the occasion, creating a symbolic image for those who will follow the race: “I think there will be an exponential growth in the popularity of Formula One after the Indian Grand Prix. I have therefore done my work for the country, for the hundreds of millions of young Indians who hope to make it to Formula One.”

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr