Nicholas Latifi, Force India, Sochi Autodrom, 2018

Uralkali still wants to buy Force India if administration is overturned

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Dmitry Mazepin’s company Uralkali says its bid to but Force India still stands if the administrators’ decision to sell it to Lawrence Stroll’s consortium is overturned by the courts.

What they say

Uralkali initiated legal proceedings against administrators FRP Advisory yesterday. FRP responded by defending their handling of the administration and stating they expect the case to be dismissed.

Speaking to RaceFans, Uralkali senior independent director Paul Ostling explained why they had brought the case and what they expect to get out of it:

We have sued the administrator for misrepresentation and a poor process and we have sued for tens of millions of sterling in damages from the costs we incurred in bidding and the lost prospective benefit we expected to gain.

This will now go to court. They will try to throw the case out. That’s what they say: the case is going to be thrown out.

We have full faith in the British court system. We understand this is going to go to the court. We understand the judge will listen. We understand all of that. And we expect to be challenged, we expect to win, we do not expect the case to be stricken out – I think it’s ridiculous for [them] to say it will be stricken out – the court will decide that and we have faith in the court.

Dmitry Mazepin, Sochi Autodrom, 2018
Mazepin at Sochi yesterday
Once the court moves forward the court will have discovery. We have no secrets and everything will come out. If the court decides the process was bad enough that they throw out the sale, we want to buy the team.

Our bid is still on the table. We’ve been telling Geoff [Rowley, joint administrator at FRP] our bid is on the table since the day we found out he didn’t accept it, particularly since the day we understood that Stroll’s rescue attempt failed – which we knew it would fail because it was impossible – and which the administrator told us on August 2nd in the office of his lawyers he thought it would fail.

And so we still want to by the team, of course, absolutely. And if the court decides the process is bad enough, that there’s an opportunity to buy the team, we want to buy the team.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Renault and Red Bull appear to be counting the days until their divorce:

The comments from both Verstappen and Abiteboul show that a works team is probably the only way to go as they sleep in the same bed and spend no time blaming each other.

Red Bull is better off next year with Honda as they become basically a works team. And so will Renault as they will not have to spend valuable time responding to claims made by drivers not belonging to their own family.
Roel K (@Rj01)

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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17 comments on “Uralkali still wants to buy Force India if administration is overturned”

  1. Not sure if I’m alone on this or not.. but I seriously hope Renault destroy Red Bull..

    1. Oh, I don’t know. Horner and Cyril have both shown their nasty side in their spats over the years. I’m a little inclined to side with RBR in this one, though, as they’re the only Renault-powered team to actually be fighting at the front.

      That said, I do think that with Ricciardo in a Renault and RBR powered by Honda, we might see more track battles between those two teams.

      1. Horner has definitely been worse. He super-snidey (and now probably goading Max to be the same) whereas Abiteboul has only really reacted to them, perhaps turning it up a bit recently. Red Bull are like the tabloid press guys in F1 – not much honour going on there.

      2. I’d definitely side with RBR. Renault has consistently under delivered since 2014 and we’re actually doing a pretty good job of under delivering prior to that as well.

        What will be interesting is whether or not they’ll actually make the sort of effort/investment they should have in 2015 to make a big leap forward now they have had RBR drop off as a customer/competitor and have gained a top flight driver from RBR.

        If they don’t, I can’t see Dan sticking around at the end of 2 years.

      3. I totally agree. Renault still has a huge gap to the customer team after four seasons, and I really cannot like Cyril. But they are finally investing in something that has been missing all the time, a driver that has speed, knows how to be in the front-runners, and most of all is very consistent. I hope Ricciardo can clinch at least one title with them at some point.

    2. Only cos Daniel is there

    3. With you there.

    4. I definitely want Renault to be up there giving Red Bull a hard time and even starting to snap at the heels of the top two.
      I don’t wan’t Red bull destroyed though.
      I would prefer a long slow process of them coming to blame Honda for all their woes over the next two seasons … followed by Honda forming it’s own team and Red Bull being back to essentially where they are now.
      Entertain me you overpaid cry-baby’s! I demand it ;)

  2. Re. COTD – such an arrangement didn’t help matters for McLaren-Honda, did it? It was only Honda’s reticence that kept it from descending into a regular squabble like what RBR and Renault are doing right now.

    Regarding yesterday’s article that spurred the COTD, I’d also point out that with Renault having imposed a contractual gag order against RBR on outright criticisms of their PU, I’m sure that Max and others are coached on what they can say and how they can phrase it (“this engine is useless” would be a no-no, but a factual observation from an engineer or driver is allowed “engine cutting out”, data comparisons between the type B and C engines).

    1. Honda and reticense? Did you read what kind of empty promises the honda bosses used to make back then? Back in 2016 hasegawa said honda will be challenging mercedes in 2017! Same thing his predecessor arai said before 2015 season. After honda had already shown their total failure at engine design at the 2014 abu dhabi tests. 5 laps in two days. And they were claiming to match mercedes.

      Here’s more arai magic:
      “The new regulation package is very very complex,” Arai said. “In Abu Dhabi we did a test and got many data, and in that we were already one team as McLaren-Honda. I have a strong confidence with our partnership that we will win next year in Melbourne and start a new era.”

      Reticence. I have no idea what you are talking about. I’m sure honda told red bull too that honda will match mercedes in 2018.
      http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/20709862/overpromising-underdelivering-mclaren-honda-line

      1. I meant reticence in terms of criticism, not empty promises. @socksolid

  3. Haha I guess there were no other pictures of these sketchy-looking chaps available. Oooo… can’t trust ’em. Just look at them plotting.

  4. What was the point in scheduling the GP3 qualifying to start around and or after the sunset on a circuit lacking floodlighting infrastructure? Isn’t that a bit unnecessarily risky? Why weren’t the F1 practice sessions began an hour earlier (10:00-11:30 and 14:00-15:30 respectively)? Avoiding this would’ve then been easier.
    – I entirely agree with the COTD.

    1. Thanks, that’s interesting to know. @paulk

      Off-topic – sometimes headline writers could do a better job, unless he truly is stepping down only in 2030! (can’t say, as the article seems to be paywalled).

      1. That one is behind a pay wall it seems. [another one here](https://bit.ly/2NbmryI)

        1. Thank you, that helped @colinmcrui

Comments are closed.