SILVERSTONE, England (AP) Force India is set for a rebrand that strips the Formula One team of its association with the South Asian nation.
The decision comes just as team co-owner Vijay Mallya is fighting extradition from Britain to his native India on charges of money laundering, and bank demands that he pay back more than a billion dollars in loans to his now-defunct airline.
Mallya, though, insists taking India off the livery would not be an act of retaliation over his legal strife but due to the lack of Indian sponsors investing in the team.
”I’ve been charged with a whole variety of things but let that be kept to one side and let the legal process take its own course,” Mallya said on Friday at the British Grand Prix.