Mallya: Make a fantastic offer and show me the money

The beleaguered business tycoon is forced to remain in Britain amid India's attempts to have him extradited to face charges on charges of fraud and money laundering associated with the collapse of his Kingfishers Airlines in 2012

Mallya fled to Britain in March 2016 as 13 Indian banks embarked on a determined battle to recover £1.145-billion ($1.5-million) from him, since then he has been forced to remain in the UK, unable to attend any other races on the grand prix calendar for fear of being apprehended in a country where he would not find similar legal protection.

On Friday, the opening day of the British Grand Prix weekend, oozing arrogance Mallya was on hand for interviews during his once a season appearance in the Formula 1 paddock.

Asked about the 'For Sale' sign that most believe is 'hanging' over his team, Mallya retorted, "Rumours will always be rumours and these are not new rumours, they are continuing for many years. We finished our 200th grand prix in Austria and we're still here, ten years after I bought the team."

Asked if there was an offer to buy the team if he would sell, the former member of Indian Parliament said, "If you gave me a fantastic offer and showed me the money on the table the answer is yes."

There was talk last year of a name change, Mallya suggesting that the lack of Indian involvement in his Formula 1 project did not merit the 'India' being in the name. A name change was expected but did not materialise.

Mallya explained, "You see, this was speculated upon last year dramatically by the press but what is on the grid Force India. I said it then but nobody believed me, they all continued to speculate on the name change but we are still Force India."

"Now it's too late for 2018 [name change] so maybe you should start the speculation again in the fourth quarter of this year on what will be the name of the team in 2019 and then I will stand in front of you at the Silverstone next year and answer your question."

Summing up his team's season so far, Mallya said, "I've mixed feelings about that. We haven't had the best luck in the world, we've not been able to bring both cars into the points as we did regularly last year."

"That's why we are where we are. Too many first lap incidents, only one car finishing the race, I mean that doesn't score points with the team."

"Nevertheless I am optimistic we are continuing to develop the car we've brought a small upgrade here to Silverstone and we are only two points behind McLaren, seven points behind Haas because they had a spectacular race in Austria, 20 behind Renault who we can catch, so we're giving it our all."

"We can only compare [seasons] if both the cars finish the race there's no specific reason, we didn't have first lap incidents last year this year we've had three, four."

Mallya also revealed that work on the 2019 car is already underway at the nearby Silverstone factory, "We already started designing the 2019 car in June. That has to be done. So it's a parallel development: 2019-car and upgrade for the 2018-car."