MELBOURNE: Sahara Force India will definitely get a new name. But it will not happen this season though Formula One team has decided on one.
Reason? The Silverstone-based outfit ran out of time to push it through.
“It’s not going to happen this year,” said Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer. “To change chassis name, from what I understand, you can’t do it in the middle of the season so we’ll have to get it done right at the end of the season.
Force India had been evaluating a name change ahead of the new season in a bid to make the team more attractive to sponsors but simply ran out of time due to lack of clarity on what the rules were in the matter.
As Szafnauer explained to the official Formula One website: “We went around to find the best name, we had some discussion with partners, sponsors and employees. Then we went to the FIA and FOM and they said ‘well, you’re a bit out of time’.
“It’s not every day you change your name. The process wasn’t well defined and still isn’t well defined. Now that we know it, we’ll do it at the end of the season.”
Szafnauer had told reporters during testing in Barcelona last month that a name change could happen before the season’s first race here Sunday.
Force India, which has finished fourth overall for the last two years, have been considering dropping ‘India’ from the team’s title to make it more attractive to potential global sponsors.
