Aston Martin Caught in Legal Battle Over “Flawed” Force India F1 Deal: REPORTS

F1 does have its end-to-end racing action courtesy of talented racers on the track. But the other side of the story is billionaires investing in teams to nurture their business interests.

At the center of another controversy this time, are Lawrence Stroll and Dmitry Mazepin. The latter’s company, Uralkali has recently claimed that their consortium bid to acquire Force India was higher than Stroll’s bid.

This bidding process came about because of Force India entering administration back in 2018. There was a cloud of uncertainty over the team’s future, but eventually Lawrence Stroll came to the rescue.

The Force India matter has gone to court as part of legal proceedings

Just about two years after the acquisition, Uralkali is pursuing legal action in the courts. The company’s belief is that the bidding process led by administrators FRP Advisory LLP, was ‘flawed and unfair’.

According to The Times ,”Uralkali, the Russian company for which Mazepin is the main shareholder, accuses Rowley and Baker, senior partners at FRP Advisory, of conducting a “fundamentally flawed and unfair sale”. Uralkali says it was “materially misled” about a bidding process the administrators had said would be “fair and transparent”.

“Detailed in the claim is an offer by Uralkali to pay £101.5 million for the team and its assets, with the added rider that it would exceed any other cash offer by £2 million, up to a maximum of £122 million.

Racing Point will get rebranded as Aston Martin F1 next year

Dubbed the ‘pink Mercedes’, Racing Point will race in its current name for the last time in 2020. Following Stroll’s investment in Aston Martin, the team will get rebranded under the new name.

Meanwhile, there were various rumors of Dmitry Mazepin being interested in acquiring Haas. Although that news has since died down, his son Nikita entering F1 still stands to be a very real possibility.

Regardless, both parties will want a swift resolution to this matter from the Supreme Court of England. And it will be interesting to see which way the verdict will go in the coming months.