Vijay Mallya to Enter Formula 1 Racing Circuit

Vipin Agnihotri

Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya is quite famous for his

tongue-in-cheek remarks. Who can forget his quote when
asked about why he chose to start an airline after
succeeding in liquor business. His answer at that time
was, “They both make you fly!”

After giving Indians some unique lessons in flying, Vijay

Mallya seems to be speeding up on the race tracks. It has
come into the notice of The India Street that Mallya has
reportedly invested his personal wealth, worth Rs 5
billion, in the game that the speedsters swears on,
Formula 1.

In my opinion, it is quite a risky investment in a careworn Spyker Ferrari racing team,

which has witnessed losses of about $29.9 million for the half year ending June 2007.
The pivotal factor here is that what will Mallya re-christen his new team as, considering
he wouldn’t like to conflict his interests. It is worth mentioning in this regard that
Kingfisher Airlines has been sponsoring the Toyota team in the F1 seasons already.

Whatever the case, Vijay Mallya is betting big on going global and entry into F1 circuit
seems to be further exhilarating his zeal of gaining a firmer foothold in international
gaming scenario.

The main objective of Vijay Mallya is to make his company a force to be reckoned within
India as well as abroad. After merging with Shaw Wallace last year, Mallya acquired the
Scottish distiller, Whyte & Mackay for $ 1.2 billion in May this year. Apart from that,
Vijay Mallya acquired French wine maker Bouvet Laduaby SAS for $ 200 million.

Talking about aviation sector, Vijay Mallya has acquired a controlling 26 per cent stake in
low cost carrier Air Deccan for about $ 135 million. It would be interesting to see when
teams like BMW, Honda and Toyota haven’t been able to reach the top league and match
Ferrari and Mclaren how will team of Vijay Mallya is going to fare in the next F1 season.

The brand image of Vijay Mallya will improve with a F1 entry. I think Vijay Mallya is a
perfect strategist who has made Kingfisher a successful airline. At the same time I have
some concerns with the kind of infrastructure we have in India, how can Mallya rule F1?

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