Mallya hits out at Teixiera
Mallya at Spanish GP
By Karl King
May 1 2008
Force India team owner Vijay Mallya has taken the unusual step of releasing a statement in response to comments made by A1GP boss Tony Teixiera that a team which is heavily focussed on India is sending out the 'wrong message' to the aspring young Indian racing drivers by not hiring an Indian driver to race for the team.
He said that whilst in his series an Indian driver can win in an Indian team, Mallya is not offering that opportunity.
Here is the statement from Mallya in full:
'I am amused by the comments of Mr Teixiera, promoter of the A1GP series, on how Indians should view motorsport in general and Force India's participation in the FIA Formula One World Championship in particular.
Mr Teixiera is better advised to comment on his native South Africa and his self-styled World Cup of Motorsport that is nothing more than a standard single seater series. Trying to reach out to India's youth by encouraging participation in and the temptation of winning a title in a series that does not even begin to compare with GP2 or F1 is just promoting mediocrity amongst young Indians who aspire to be World Class.
This, indeed, is a wrong message which seems to be an act of desperation given the huge and growing support for Formula One and the Force India Formula One team.
I am sure that Indians could win so-called World titles at B or C grade levels of any sport quite easily but competing at the very highest international level is not only a matter of pride but proves a Nation's ability to participate and do so.
The Force India Formula One Team is the first-ever Indian entry in the FIA World Championship and has harnessed international resources. This cannot be commented upon as being negative given that the Indian National Cricket Team has long had foreign coaches, the best of Indian Technology Companies have harnessed international resources and the much celebrated Tata Nano car has imported components. For that matter the World Champion Ferrari Formula One Team has Brazilian and Finnish drivers and is no less Italian in the process!
As far as Mr Teixiera's comments on how the Ferrari association with the A1 series will stimulate interest, perhaps I should remind him that Force India F1 cars are also powered by Ferrari engines.
I question Mr Teixiera's competence in speaking about the aspirations of our Indian youth and what message should be sent to them in the context of Motorsport. Perhaps I should remind Mr Teixiera that my companies reach out to hundreds of millions of Indians each day through our products and services and we are not only better informed but equipped to meet the aspirations of our youth. And I certainly will not tempt them with mediocrity or false pretences.
Instead, I will encourage world-class thinking and actions and through Force India demonstrate that an Indian team can compete at the very pinnacle of motorsport and not just in a comparatively mediocre single seater formula series.
As the head of the Indian National Motorsporting Federation, I am also perfectly aware not only of the interest but participation in Motorsport over the past 25 years. It is inappropriate for Mr Teixiera to say that India is not a Motorsporting Nation. Perhaps, the number of Indian Motorsport enthusiasts will exceed the population of many countries that Mr Teixiera is familar with.
Finally, I have committed that Force India will identify and groom an Indian driver to eventually participate in F1 through National and International Karting and GP2. I hope to achieve this over a period of five years. The arrival of Force India on the FIA World Championship F1 grid has already trebled television viewership in just four races and generated a huge fan following amongst Indians who take pride in seeing their team compete with the best in the world.
Further, a reputed Indian Group has already invested considerably towards building a new race track to host a Formula One Grand Prix in 2010 outside New Delhi. This is ample demonstation of support from those who are developing large stakes in the sport. Irresponsible and ill informed statements will not change the waves of support for Force India or India's growing enthusiasm for Formula One.'
Quote:Mallya
World Cup of Motorsport that is nothing more than a standard single seater series.
As Biggy used to say, "if you don't know, now you know"
As for Mallya, he's absolutely right, and I'm yet to see anyone (with the presumed exception of Teixiera) that thinks his thought pattern is wrong in this matter. In fact, several people had already jumped to Mallya's defence before the counter-statement was issued.
Mallya's comments about ferrari, indian cricket team and tata are nonsense
Ferrari may not have a italian driver but it is based in italy and there are many italians behind its development.
Indian cricket team may have foreign coachs but players are indians
Tata may have imported some technology but majority of is developed in india.
I dont see any thing indian with force india besides the theme and money. But there definetely is potential in the future.
Although i support both force india and A1 team, in terms of patriotism, i feel lot more proud when the A1 team is running well in a race. So as of now i will agree with teixeira.
While I respect Kallu for his patriotism (I am Irish afterall and we know a thing or two about that
) I can see the comparison to Ferrari very clearly. Ferrari may well be located in Italy but many of its employees, not just its drivers, are not Italian. Renault (a French company) has its F1 team located in the UK with an Italian Team Principal and English designers and Spanish and Brazillian drivers. Is it any less a French team? No its not. I will not even get started on the German location of the Toyota team.
The reality in A1GP is that many of the teams are in fact run by professional race preperation organisations with no link to the home country. Often the only thing national about these teams are the Team Principal and the driver. Everyone else is a hired hand. A1GP is a good and interesting series, but it is not now and never will be a rival to F1.
Yeah,NK's fought hard and got Team India some respectability, but that hardly makes A1 any better, or for that matter even more talked about here.
Does anyone remember the last Italian who drove for teh Ferrari team - not as test driver, but as one of the tow regular drivers?
I do not remember any Italian after Michele Alboreto and that was in 1988.
In spite of there being two Italians race winners in F1 - Fisichella and Trulli - Ferrari have not considered either for a seat. Fisi, a few years ago, said he woudl race for Ferrari for free!
Let's not get on Vijay Mallya's back now. Let him induct an Indian when he thinks the time is right
the first part is changing and the clander is becoming spread across the world but still over half the races are in euroe, for simple speede of reactionn to shippig new parts europe is the logical chocie for setting up a team base
secondly i doubt that india or many other coutries apart from UK USA ITALY GERMANY AND FRANCE (Which is where mostorsport teams ahve tradtioally been based) have any companies producing the products required, for example around silverstone over 300000 people are employed i high end mostorport equipment manucfactuing, desing etc
jean alesi was part italian
sir iam dare to drive f-1 car but i am nt able to find the path where shud i go.plz help me i will defenately make the indians proud.
both needs good money and experienced f1 technical team, which covers the drivers too, to move ahead in this highly competitive field of f1 driving.
On technical side of f1, indians don't have much expertise. In future, may be.
A1 has been trying to tap Indian market, but remains unsuccessful, even though Narain did well, while interest in F1 is on an increase.......no wonder then this silly statement from Teixiera !!!!