Adrian Newey-Force India, Raymond-Gautam Singhania & More - The Inside Line (Episode 4)

Our 'Force India - Inside Line' series is back and this is episode #4.

Ravikant Sabnavis & Kunal Shah, former Force India F1 Team members, join Soumil Arora to share stories about Force India's interest in Adrian Newey, how Vijay Mallya came to own the team & more.

Links to the previous episodes of the 'Force India - Inside Line' series are below:

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On the live stream, you can discuss with Steve & our hosts various race-related topics - strategies, performances, insights & more. Join us to enhance your real-time race viewing experience!

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1. Episode 1


2. Episode 2: Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, One from a Billion Hunt


3. Episode 3: 'Glory on track vs. Personal glory'

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(Season 2022, Episode 56)

Follow our hosts on Twitter: Ravikant Sabnavis, Soumil Arora and Kunal Shah

Image courtesy: Red Bull Content Pool

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## **Inside Line: Force India - Episode 4**

### **Key Points:**

- Ravikant Sabnavis, Kunal Shah, and Soumil Arora discuss their experiences working with the Force India Formula One team.


- The podcast begins with a discussion about the team's interest in Adrian Newey and how Vijay Mallya came to own the team.


- The hosts reminisce about the challenges of promoting the team and its sponsors, including a humorous anecdote about Deepika Padukone having to wear a T-shirt with alcohol branding covered up with white tape.


- They also discuss the creation of the "Speed Divas," a group of four women who were associated with the team and traveled to select races, generating significant attention and social media buzz.


- The podcast concludes with the hosts sharing their favorite memories from their time with Force India, including Nico Hulkenberg's willingness to ride in a twin-seater go-kart with Kunal Shah, Adrian Sutil's return to the team after being dropped for a year, and Adrian Sutil's piano performance in Mumbai.


- The hosts encourage listeners to reach out to them on social media, leave a good rating, subscribe to the podcast, and join their race watch-alongs.


### **Insights and Controversies:**

- The podcast provides a unique insider's perspective on the Force India Formula One team, offering insights into the challenges and triumphs of running a Formula One team.


- The hosts' personal anecdotes and memories add a touch of humor and human interest to the discussion, making the podcast engaging and relatable.


- There are no significant controversies or disagreements among the speakers, as they all share a positive and nostalgic view of their time with Force India.


### **Overall Message:**

The podcast offers a nostalgic and entertaining look back at the Force India Formula One team, highlighting the team's achievements, challenges, and the camaraderie among its members.

[00:00.000 -> 00:24.120] Hey folks, welcome to this special episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.
[00:24.120 -> 00:28.160] Now I might be a bit blessed in this case because my destiny has just chosen
[00:28.680 -> 00:33.480] To kind of live out the prophecy made the force be with you a bit too seriously because I was wondering well
[00:33.480 -> 00:37.680] How can that happen? How can I have the force with me? But luckily enough today?
[00:37.680 -> 00:44.160] I've got two people who kind of ran the force behind force India the formula one team back in the day folks
[00:44.160 -> 00:45.280] I have got Kunal Shah firstly the former marketing head of the force behind Force India, the Formula One team back in the day. Folks, I've got Kunal
[00:45.280 -> 00:50.160] Shah, firstly, the former marketing head of the Force India F1 team. And if you've heard of our
[00:50.160 -> 00:55.280] Force India special episodes before, we've also got Mr. Ravikanth Subnavis. And your official
[00:55.280 -> 00:58.560] title, sir, was it marketing head? Was it something different to that? I don't quite
[00:58.560 -> 01:03.440] exactly remember. It was global marketing head. Yes. Global marketing. Wow. That makes it feel
[01:03.440 -> 01:10.760] extra special. But but folks, on this particular episode, we've got so many fun stories to talk about, including
[01:10.760 -> 01:15.880] firstly Kunal, Force India potentially not being owned by Vijay Mallya.
[01:15.880 -> 01:17.240] Could that ever happen?
[01:17.240 -> 01:20.000] Well, yes, thank you for that introduction.
[01:20.000 -> 01:23.800] And it's, you know, you start every episode saying it's special.
[01:23.800 -> 01:25.840] And this is really special.
[01:25.840 -> 01:31.000] You know, Ravi and me talking about Force India memories and you bringing them out.
[01:31.000 -> 01:36.160] And, you know, but on a more serious note, not trying to be very emotional about it,
[01:36.160 -> 01:42.360] is the way Force India, you know, sort of galvanized the Formula One market and the
[01:42.360 -> 01:45.840] Formula One fan and built the community in India.
[01:45.840 -> 01:48.640] I don't see something like that happening very soon
[01:48.640 -> 01:52.120] in the Indian market, and which is why how we did it,
[01:52.120 -> 01:56.140] what we did is something so special that to us, of course,
[01:56.140 -> 01:57.920] because we were within the role,
[01:57.920 -> 02:00.440] within several other people doing it as well,
[02:00.440 -> 02:04.320] but also for fans to know how is it that teams are built,
[02:04.320 -> 02:07.000] brands are built, communities are built, communities are built and so on.
[02:07.000 -> 02:09.000] Come on, you can puff your chest out a little bit.
[02:09.000 -> 02:13.000] You mean more than the 56 inch chest?
[02:13.000 -> 02:22.000] It's just a part of the great work that you two have put in and it's amazing how memorable Force India still is to this day.
[02:22.000 -> 02:27.800] I mean, I still have great memories, even though I was, what, eight or nine back in the day?
[02:27.800 -> 02:29.640] Yeah, you were a little too young
[02:29.640 -> 02:32.560] when we were having all the fun in Force India.
[02:32.560 -> 02:34.200] But coming to your question,
[02:34.200 -> 02:36.880] which is the most interesting part, right?
[02:36.880 -> 02:41.200] So Force India, which of course was originally owned
[02:41.200 -> 02:44.120] by Vijay Mallya and then Subrata Roy Sahara
[02:44.120 -> 02:46.000] became a share owner, co-owner,
[02:46.000 -> 02:54.640] whatever, was not supposed to be owned by Vijay Mallya back in 2008, 2009 when the deal happened.
[02:54.640 -> 03:01.120] So, I happened to be in a conversation with Gautam Singhania, the promoter son of Raymond
[03:01.120 -> 03:06.280] Textiles or Raymond as the brand we know it, the complete man. Whenever I hear
[03:06.280 -> 03:11.440] the tagline, I remember Fernando Alonso, but yes. Okay. So, what Gautam Singhania told
[03:11.440 -> 03:19.920] me was that originally the Spiker Midland offer came to him through Colin Collis, right?
[03:19.920 -> 03:25.600] And that he was interested in it, but he didn't want to buy it. So via a common friend who we all know
[03:25.600 -> 03:32.240] as Robert Fernley, he reached out to VJM or Vijay Mallya as we call him, right? To say,
[03:32.240 -> 03:37.440] hey, would you be interested and then the rest is history. And for those of you listening,
[03:37.440 -> 03:43.280] Gautam Singhania, if I'm not mistaken, sir, owns a McLaren Senna. He owns a Lamborghini Countach.
[03:43.280 -> 03:46.200] And I know it's insider stuff kind of, but
[03:46.200 -> 03:51.520] once we had a party at his place for a race event that he organized, he has a five floor
[03:51.520 -> 03:53.840] garage full of all the supercars in the world.
[03:53.840 -> 03:58.480] Now, how would that have panned out if GHS was on the team as he's now called?
[03:58.480 -> 04:01.760] Because there's no doubt that the funds are available.
[04:01.760 -> 04:05.040] Or in fact, as we can look at today, the funds are more readily and
[04:05.040 -> 04:08.640] more consistently available. They haven't quite dropped off in the years. Would Force India be
[04:08.640 -> 04:12.960] on the grid today? I mean, that's just all fascinating stuff. I can't imagine how things
[04:12.960 -> 04:17.360] would have played out. You know, the first thing that struck me was Gautam Singhania also runs a
[04:17.360 -> 04:25.680] company called Raymond. Looking at his Instagram feed,
[04:25.680 -> 04:28.000] I don't think you'd be able to tell that, to be honest with you.
[04:28.560 -> 04:29.060] Indeed.
[04:30.240 -> 04:30.740] Wow.
[04:31.040 -> 04:32.800] So why did it not go ahead eventually?
[04:32.960 -> 04:37.200] Well, he just said he wasn't interested and that Vijay Mallya was
[04:37.840 -> 04:39.360] interested more than him.
[04:39.360 -> 04:44.880] Personally speaking, no idea if Force India would have still been on the grid or not or what would have happened.
[04:45.000 -> 04:45.500] But I am pretty sure Speaking no idea if Force India would have still been on the grid or not or what would have happened.
[04:52.300 -> 04:55.900] But I am pretty sure that that's not the only interesting headline story this episode. I know Ravi is holding on to something that he wants to share with all of y'all.
[04:56.700 -> 04:57.400] Yes, indeed.
[04:57.900 -> 05:02.200] This was when Subrata Roy Sahara or Sahara Shree as we have called him,
[05:02.900 -> 05:06.000] actually wanted to hire somebody from one of the teams
[05:06.000 -> 05:12.320] and that was an engineer. An engineer? Wait, who was that? You know what, actually, let's
[05:12.320 -> 05:17.440] answer that question after the short break. Stay right here, folks. Hey, folks, welcome back into
[05:17.440 -> 05:26.000] the InsideLineF1 podcast where we were discussing the possibility of Subrata Roy, Sri Sri Subrata Roy Shah Rashri, if I've said
[05:26.000 -> 05:31.280] that correctly, you can't add too few. I mean, his name cannot be complete without at least
[05:31.280 -> 05:35.840] four superlatives here or there. But you were saying that he wanted to hire an engineer.
[05:35.840 -> 05:42.480] What, how special is it that we're discussing hiring an engineer? Who is that even all about?
[05:42.480 -> 05:46.260] Absolutely. It wasn't just any ordinary engineer. It was
[05:46.260 -> 05:53.100] Adrian Newey. Adrian Newey? Absolutely. Hang on, the Adrian Newey. And if I'm just arranging
[05:53.100 -> 05:57.900] my timelines correctly, you guys were there in a team till 2015. That's right. Sahara
[05:57.900 -> 06:07.200] bought in 2011. Correct. In the middle, Red Bull won what? 11, 12, 13, three world championships in the most dominant fashion
[06:07.200 -> 06:10.400] and force India wanted to hire Adrien Newey. Absolutely.
[06:10.400 -> 06:16.040] How? So, okay, I may be slightly wrong here because
[06:16.040 -> 06:19.600] Adrien Newey ended up joining Red Bull when they were absolutely terrible, but still,
[06:19.600 -> 06:27.120] I can't make sense of it still. So, and that's where it all comes together right and the thinking behind possibly what
[06:27.120 -> 06:30.260] led Sahara Shree to actually even suggest that.
[06:30.260 -> 06:35.840] So this was would have been in 2012 and if I recall that was 2010-11 they were already
[06:35.840 -> 06:39.240] two dominant years for Red Bull correct.
[06:39.240 -> 06:46.240] So they were on a high and therefore Adrian Newey was also on a high and we were if I recall we were
[06:46.240 -> 06:54.040] in this board meeting in Chelsea and that was in Sahara Shree's residence come office
[06:54.040 -> 06:59.760] in the UK and I think one of the questions he asked to the Force India team is listen
[06:59.760 -> 07:11.720] what makes Red Bull tick quite simply what's making them win. And I remember Vijayam saying Adrian Newey, he says, who is that?
[07:11.720 -> 07:12.720] Who is that?
[07:12.720 -> 07:15.320] He says, he is the brains behind the team, right.
[07:15.320 -> 07:19.320] He says, why don't we just hire him?
[07:19.320 -> 07:26.160] And I think I could see you know faces turning into different colors there was a palpable shock you know
[07:26.160 -> 07:29.200] how could you even think about hiring Adrian Newey.
[07:29.200 -> 07:33.280] So Vijay said well he costs 10 million dollars.
[07:33.280 -> 07:34.280] So let's get him.
[07:34.280 -> 07:42.200] He says no when you hire somebody like Adrian Newey right besides his salary he's going
[07:42.200 -> 07:45.280] to ask for lots of tech related investments,
[07:45.280 -> 07:50.320] whether it's the wind tunnel, this and that. So, he says you're going to be staring at a bill
[07:50.320 -> 07:56.240] upwards of 25 million dollars. Wow. And why did it not go ahead
[07:56.240 -> 08:00.320] eventually? Was that it? The reason why? I mean, was that because it was too costly?
[08:02.160 -> 08:08.040] You know, I think that's the reason, simply because that was the reality check that yes,
[08:08.040 -> 08:12.200] he's the best in the business, but to begin with, he comes at a certain cost.
[08:12.200 -> 08:15.380] And then he brings in add on costs.
[08:15.380 -> 08:20.680] And that for a team like Force India, you know, which was probably spending upwards
[08:20.680 -> 08:27.240] of 75 million, you know, to simply spend this much on one man would have been
[08:27.240 -> 08:28.240] just too much.
[08:28.240 -> 08:31.920] And if I recall, Kunal, we were also sharing a wind tunnel.
[08:31.920 -> 08:32.920] That's correct.
[08:32.920 -> 08:33.920] Right?
[08:33.920 -> 08:34.920] Yes.
[08:34.920 -> 08:35.920] So, to be able to do all this would not have been possible.
[08:35.920 -> 08:43.600] So, it was a great idea, which I think Subrata Roy had as a new member of the Force India
[08:43.600 -> 08:45.000] and F1 community.
[08:46.560 -> 08:49.160] I don't believe a formal offer was made though,
[08:49.160 -> 08:50.080] unfortunately.
[08:50.080 -> 08:50.920] It wasn't.
[08:50.920 -> 08:52.040] I wish that would have happened
[08:52.040 -> 08:53.480] and that would have been fantastic
[08:53.480 -> 08:56.200] to have a media leak saying,
[08:56.200 -> 08:58.840] Force India makes an offer to Adrian Newey.
[08:58.840 -> 09:00.280] Would have been fantastic, isn't it?
[09:00.280 -> 09:01.200] You know what Kunal,
[09:01.200 -> 09:03.700] I think what you have in mind when you say fantastic is,
[09:03.700 -> 09:06.120] you're trying to imagine Adrian Newey doing the Sahara Pranam
[09:08.000 -> 09:12.400] Right hand on the left chest and then saying Sahara Pranam
[09:12.400 -> 09:12.900] Oh my god
[09:12.900 -> 09:14.900] And then touching the man's feet
[09:14.900 -> 09:18.900] That's true, I've seen videos of that
[09:18.900 -> 09:20.900] Oh man
[09:21.140 -> 09:26.000] How many such how many such crazy offers fell by the wayside when someone just had
[09:26.000 -> 09:31.060] to tell Mr. Subrata Roy Sahara that, sir, that's, that's not how Formula One works.
[09:31.060 -> 09:33.560] Is there any crazy story apart from this as well?
[09:33.560 -> 09:39.320] I mean, we've all heard about the flattening of the side pods on this particular podcast
[09:39.320 -> 09:40.320] before.
[09:40.320 -> 09:44.520] And if you haven't folks, tune into some of our previous episodes, but surely it can't
[09:44.520 -> 09:47.520] be just two of these stories, right? He's got to have more in the bag.
[09:47.520 -> 09:50.160] He's been on for a couple of years. He's got to have more.
[09:50.160 -> 09:54.080] Oh yeah. Look, that could potentially be yet another episode.
[09:54.640 -> 09:58.400] Because there were so many stories, remember, during the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
[09:58.400 -> 10:03.760] Oh yeah. It was, you know, whether it comes to, you know, previously Ravi said how everything
[10:03.760 -> 10:05.680] was bigger in size and scale, you know,
[10:05.680 -> 10:09.060] he was like a startup founder saying 100 users a second
[10:09.060 -> 10:11.560] is not enough, I need 100,000, you know.
[10:11.560 -> 10:14.740] But some of the other things he wanted to do were,
[10:14.740 -> 10:17.060] which I was really excited about was,
[10:17.060 -> 10:19.700] what would it take to do a road show
[10:19.700 -> 10:22.540] with an actual force India racing car
[10:22.540 -> 10:25.880] in some of the most major cities in Formula One.
[10:25.880 -> 10:29.240] And suddenly the conversation was not one or two,
[10:29.240 -> 10:32.000] the conversation was eight to 10 cities.
[10:32.000 -> 10:36.320] Okay, and then what would it take to make multiples showcars
[10:36.320 -> 10:39.160] and then park them in places of interest.
[10:39.160 -> 10:41.680] And while we are laughing about it now,
[10:41.680 -> 10:45.180] because we have the license to laugh.
[10:45.180 -> 10:49.740] Some of these were actually very ambitious plans, which just didn't go through because
[10:49.740 -> 10:52.560] the promoters had their own financial problems, right?
[10:52.560 -> 10:56.320] And if we go back to Adrian Newey, for example, right?
[10:56.320 -> 11:02.140] Yes, he comes with his personal cost or his salary that would be, and then all the tools
[11:02.140 -> 11:06.100] and the tech like Ravi said that Force India would need to invest in.
[11:06.100 -> 11:10.300] But now cut to 2022, 2023, when we are looking at,
[11:10.300 -> 11:12.780] you know, Formula One, Liberty Media specifically,
[11:12.780 -> 11:15.940] sort of trying to narrow the gap between the teams.
[11:15.940 -> 11:19.460] It should be us, you know, could the likes of Adrian Newey
[11:19.460 -> 11:21.920] be interested in another smaller team
[11:21.920 -> 11:23.980] at some point of time in the future?
[11:23.980 -> 11:25.560] Purely because there are budget gaps
[11:25.560 -> 11:27.320] and our financial regulations.
[11:27.320 -> 11:31.040] You know, they're trying very hard to have smaller teams,
[11:31.040 -> 11:33.320] smaller being more privateer teams,
[11:33.320 -> 11:36.000] actually perform well, punch way above their weight.
[11:36.000 -> 11:38.840] And could that be a challenge for Adrian Newey
[11:38.840 -> 11:41.240] or the other bigger brains in the business?
[11:41.240 -> 11:44.560] And that's probably what could also be in the future.
[11:44.560 -> 11:45.600] Of course, no crystal ball,
[11:45.600 -> 11:50.880] but had there not been financial problems, had Force India still been on the grid,
[11:50.880 -> 11:54.960] you know, like Ravi said, operating at $75 million or a little more than that,
[11:55.520 -> 12:01.520] imagine how profitable the team and the operations could have been in this generation. And then the
[12:01.520 -> 12:06.340] ability that it would sort of allow the management to actually invest
[12:06.340 -> 12:11.900] in the talent and the tools that money could buy or the best talent that money could buy.
[12:11.900 -> 12:15.720] Which they are kind of doing right now with mixed results as well. And it's exciting times
[12:15.720 -> 12:20.600] to see how that team eventually progresses. But it reminds me of Newey joining Red Bull
[12:20.600 -> 12:29.780] as well, because that's what happens when you join a smaller team as a designer, as a as a star designer who's won many world championships, you expect the complete
[12:29.780 -> 12:33.780] license to freedom, which is what Newey was given eventually at Red Bull Racing. But that's
[12:33.780 -> 12:40.400] Adrian Newey. I suppose we've got many, many, many other fun stories to talk about, including
[12:40.400 -> 12:45.360] the Indian GP and its title sponsor, Airtel. Now, for all of you who don't know,
[12:45.360 -> 12:48.200] Airtel is an Indian telecommunications network.
[12:48.200 -> 12:50.280] I think the second biggest right now.
[12:50.280 -> 12:52.760] It's one of the leanest organizations
[12:52.760 -> 12:54.160] that's going around in the telecom business
[12:54.160 -> 12:56.000] and it survived a big industry change.
[12:56.000 -> 12:57.480] So they're doing pretty well,
[12:57.480 -> 12:59.360] but they were also the sponsors of the Indian GP
[12:59.360 -> 13:00.200] in the first place.
[13:00.200 -> 13:03.120] But so I have just heard in the prep meeting
[13:03.120 -> 13:07.460] for this particular episode, that they could have been sponsoring the Force India F1 team.
[13:07.620 -> 13:08.120] Indeed.
[13:08.120 -> 13:10.120] Is that really true?
[13:10.120 -> 13:11.540] Oh, absolutely.
[13:11.540 -> 13:15.620] I think, you know, we engaged with them for a fairly long time.
[13:16.000 -> 13:21.340] We met up with their folks, and I think we had a really compelling proposition
[13:22.040 -> 13:26.960] with some really innovative ideas on what we could offer, Force India
[13:26.960 -> 13:30.520] could offer Airtel, right.
[13:30.520 -> 13:35.040] And unfortunately, you know, finally, when it came down to the wire, they chose, you
[13:35.040 -> 13:40.940] know, to be the sponsor of the Indian Grand Prix rather than a team, right.
[13:40.940 -> 13:47.340] And I think our logic to them, besides, of course, what we offered was to say that it's, you know,
[13:47.340 -> 13:50.980] the sponsor of one race, one location,
[13:50.980 -> 13:55.860] was sponsoring a team over 20 odd races across the world.
[13:55.860 -> 13:59.380] And especially for a company like Airtel,
[13:59.380 -> 14:02.100] which operated at that time, not just in India,
[14:02.100 -> 14:03.780] but a few other locations,
[14:03.780 -> 14:06.720] and perhaps may have had ambitions of expanding.
[14:06.720 -> 14:10.160] It made a lot of sense for them to travel with the team,
[14:10.160 -> 14:13.440] so to say, as opposed to localize all of their effort
[14:13.440 -> 14:15.720] in one country, especially in one city.
[14:15.720 -> 14:18.880] And Airtel was, and still is, big in Africa as well.
[14:18.880 -> 14:19.720] Yes.
[14:19.720 -> 14:21.360] They are a global brand and it could have worked out,
[14:21.360 -> 14:23.680] but they dropped off.
[14:23.680 -> 14:24.700] Well, why did that happen?
[14:24.700 -> 14:29.680] Because it seems like such a fun proposition, right? Sponsoring a Formula One team and at that time,
[14:29.680 -> 14:34.560] they really did have high speed internet. So it kind of makes sense, right? Fast car, fast team,
[14:34.560 -> 14:38.480] we have the best network. It just, or am I just thinking too naively at this stage?
[14:39.840 -> 14:45.940] You know, I think what went through their minds, much as we presented this as the proposition
[14:45.940 -> 14:51.860] for them to own the Indian Grand Prix, especially because I mean, nobody knew at that time that
[14:51.860 -> 14:57.740] it would fall off the grid, you know, very soon, so quickly, but they felt and I think
[14:57.740 -> 14:58.740] they did a five-year deal.
[14:58.740 -> 14:59.740] That's correct.
[14:59.740 -> 15:00.740] Right.
[15:00.740 -> 15:06.160] They clearly felt that owning the Indian Grand Prix would have been a much more powerful
[15:06.160 -> 15:13.360] proposition for them. Right, because their first ambition obviously was to dominate in India,
[15:13.360 -> 15:17.840] right, and engage with their consumers in India, because that was the single largest market.
[15:17.840 -> 15:22.400] So, I would imagine that there would have been a very logical reason for them to move that way.
[15:23.440 -> 15:28.240] Which makes me ask you Kunal, Airtel sponsoring the Indian Grand Prix, the Indian Grand Prix
[15:28.240 -> 15:32.480] being such a pivotal event for Force India, as we have discussed in the previous episodes of
[15:32.480 -> 15:38.400] the series, how involved were you as a team in the, let's say, the organizing and the promoting
[15:38.400 -> 15:43.360] of the race? Because had Force India not been there on the grid, I don't really imagine the
[15:43.360 -> 15:45.600] Indian Grand Prix happening at that time.
[15:45.600 -> 15:49.000] So was there any support from your end as a team?
[15:49.000 -> 15:51.240] Or was there any involvement per se?
[15:51.240 -> 15:54.320] Not really, you know, because as a Formula One team,
[15:54.320 -> 15:55.720] you of course have a home race
[15:55.720 -> 15:57.240] and then you have every other race,
[15:57.240 -> 15:59.240] but eventually you just go racing
[15:59.240 -> 16:02.760] wherever the sport says you go racing, right?
[16:02.760 -> 16:05.500] So we did do a couple of site visits and stuff,
[16:05.500 -> 16:07.880] but that was more so for understanding
[16:07.880 -> 16:10.060] what would force India get on ground,
[16:10.060 -> 16:12.700] which was pretty much what everybody else got as well,
[16:12.700 -> 16:13.520] right?
[16:13.520 -> 16:17.560] But what we did do as help to JP as the promoters,
[16:17.560 -> 16:19.260] to Indian Grand Prix, to Formula One,
[16:19.260 -> 16:23.660] is we literally promoted the Indian Grand Prix
[16:23.660 -> 16:26.880] as the place to be for that weekend
[16:26.880 -> 16:29.500] when it actually happened in October, right?
[16:29.500 -> 16:32.120] And all our promotions that we've spoken about
[16:32.120 -> 16:33.240] in the previous episodes,
[16:33.240 -> 16:35.560] like raise the flag and the likes,
[16:35.560 -> 16:40.480] were all driving people to the international circuit,
[16:40.480 -> 16:42.520] saying there's no other place to be
[16:42.520 -> 16:43.840] but the Indian Grand Prix.
[16:43.840 -> 16:49.920] So that was the way of supporting it. I'm pretty confident we promoted the Indian Grand Prix more than the Indian Grand
[16:49.920 -> 16:56.720] Prix, more than Formula One, Tony Eccleston himself. So we really put all our might there.
[16:56.720 -> 17:05.520] And talking of Airtel, right, to me, one of the other reasons why the deal actually didn't happen was,
[17:05.520 -> 17:08.360] we all know that the promoters had their issues, right?
[17:08.360 -> 17:10.540] And those issues were coming to the fore
[17:10.540 -> 17:13.600] even while the discussions were going on, right?
[17:13.600 -> 17:15.900] And then you have to remember in Force India,
[17:15.900 -> 17:19.000] there were actually two and then three parallel brands
[17:19.000 -> 17:21.820] that you would end up associating with, right?
[17:21.820 -> 17:24.000] So let's take a Red Bull as an example.
[17:24.000 -> 17:26.440] When you associate with a Red Bull,
[17:26.440 -> 17:29.320] you associate with Red Bull, Red Bull Racing
[17:29.320 -> 17:31.040] and the Energy Drinks team.
[17:31.040 -> 17:34.560] You do not associate with Dietrich Mattisch
[17:34.560 -> 17:36.000] or whatever his last name is.
[17:36.000 -> 17:38.160] Mattisch, Chitz, whatever.
[17:38.160 -> 17:39.000] Right?
[17:39.000 -> 17:39.960] So, but in Force India,
[17:39.960 -> 17:41.860] when you would associate with Force India,
[17:41.860 -> 17:44.320] you would associating with Force India
[17:44.320 -> 17:48.960] and even more equal or powerful brand, depending on your geography or where you were living or
[17:48.960 -> 17:56.240] consuming content would be Vijay Mallya. And then after that, even Subrata Roy Sahara, right? So,
[17:56.800 -> 18:02.640] brands like Airtel were always a little more wary of making those associations. Would they want an
[18:02.640 -> 18:05.140] association with the Formula One team? Yes. Would they want an association with the Formula One team? Yes.
[18:05.140 -> 18:07.340] Would they want an association with the two promoters
[18:07.340 -> 18:08.880] who anyway, you know,
[18:08.880 -> 18:10.680] dubious stories were just coming out
[18:10.680 -> 18:11.840] at that point of time?
[18:11.840 -> 18:12.720] The answer was no.
[18:12.720 -> 18:14.600] And look who's actually outlasted.
[18:14.600 -> 18:16.600] You know, Airtel has outlasted all these three brands
[18:16.600 -> 18:18.140] that we sort of spoke of.
[18:18.140 -> 18:21.020] Another important point here was Airtel
[18:21.020 -> 18:24.400] eventually sponsored a team as well.
[18:24.400 -> 18:26.280] And that was Mercedes. So they had the Airtel eventually sponsored a team as well. And that was Mercedes.
[18:26.280 -> 18:29.020] So they had the Airtel Indian Grand Prix.
[18:29.880 -> 18:31.840] And for the Indian GP,
[18:31.840 -> 18:33.920] they spent a little bit of money on Mercedes.
[18:33.920 -> 18:36.320] Again, Mercedes, great brand.
[18:36.320 -> 18:39.840] And the cream on this was of course, Michael Schumacher,
[18:39.840 -> 18:41.640] because they actually had Michael Schumacher
[18:41.640 -> 18:43.860] in one of their advertisements as well,
[18:43.860 -> 18:47.760] which again was all over the place in the build up to the Indian Grand Prix.
[18:47.760 -> 18:53.160] I remember that so vividly. It was a big two page advertisement on the front page of the
[18:53.160 -> 18:59.080] Times of India with Michael Schumacher at the boot circuit in his Mercedes. As a child,
[18:59.080 -> 19:04.080] I was gobsmacked because never had I seen Formula One promoted so vividly in such an
[19:04.080 -> 19:05.720] open mass scale, even though we
[19:05.720 -> 19:10.400] had had the Indian Grand Prix last year. So that for me was crazy. Yeah, Michael, Michael
[19:10.400 -> 19:15.200] on Times of India. That's another fact. We were actually competing to have that advertisement
[19:15.200 -> 19:20.480] as well. A full page ad, the most read English daily in the world ever. Of course, the most
[19:20.480 -> 19:25.600] read English daily in India, the Times of India. The only difference is that the 1st of
[19:25.600 -> 19:33.120] October 2012, Kingfisher Airlines was grounded for unpaid dues. And the media company said,
[19:33.120 -> 19:37.280] you know, that ad is yours, but you got to pay us upfront. And now you know why we didn't have
[19:37.280 -> 19:46.840] that ad. So we had the creative ready. If I can find it, I'm going to tweet it. But anyway, the realities of the Force India Formula One team.
[19:47.400 -> 19:49.600] But you, but I'm not, not you guys,
[19:49.600 -> 19:52.760] but the owner did have a party with Enrique Iglesias the week later.
[19:52.760 -> 19:56.240] So I'm not really sure about unpaid bills for times of India or anything.
[19:56.520 -> 20:00.400] The money was there. Was it? The money was there. For some things.
[20:00.480 -> 20:02.040] For some things. Absolutely.
[20:03.080 -> 20:05.320] Well, actually folks, I've got another fun topic to talk
[20:05.320 -> 20:10.920] about, which was force India going black in terms of the car livery. Now, if I remember
[20:10.920 -> 20:17.320] correctly, sir, we had spoken about Mr. Malia's, I wouldn't call it antics, but his superstitions
[20:17.320 -> 20:22.480] about not having a car colored black because it was unholy or something. I don't even know
[20:22.480 -> 20:25.280] the exact term to use. I can describe it better in Hindi,
[20:25.280 -> 20:26.680] but in English, it's just really hard to put it.
[20:26.680 -> 20:27.920] Superstition is, I think,
[20:27.920 -> 20:29.960] the broader category we can put it into.
[20:29.960 -> 20:32.960] But in 2014, the shirt I'm wearing right now,
[20:32.960 -> 20:35.040] of course, is kind of very representative of that.
[20:35.040 -> 20:38.440] The 2014 Force India went to a black and orange livery.
[20:38.440 -> 20:41.200] A very beautiful car that I absolutely loved
[20:41.200 -> 20:43.840] the whole design, but isn't that contradictory
[20:43.840 -> 20:45.400] to what Mr. Malya had in
[20:45.400 -> 20:46.800] plan earlier on?
[20:46.800 -> 20:50.400] He just really didn't want to go for a white car, black car, didn't he?
[20:50.400 -> 20:51.400] Indeed.
[20:51.400 -> 20:55.680] In fact, the entire deliberation that happened two years before when the Sahara first came
[20:55.680 -> 20:57.960] in was not even on the color of the car.
[20:57.960 -> 20:59.360] I mean, we won't go so far.
[20:59.360 -> 21:02.280] It was actually on the font color, Kunal, if you remember.
[21:02.280 -> 21:03.280] Correct.
[21:03.280 -> 21:04.280] What?
[21:04.280 -> 21:09.400] It was on the font. He didn't want the word, you know, Force India F1 Sahara to be in black.
[21:09.400 -> 21:10.400] What?
[21:10.400 -> 21:12.320] He was finally okay with a gray.
[21:12.320 -> 21:13.720] We finally settled on a gray.
[21:13.720 -> 21:18.680] So if you actually go through the Pantone shades, right, you will never find the black.
[21:18.680 -> 21:24.260] It's the darkest shade of gray without actually being black.
[21:24.260 -> 21:28.480] So it's being as close to black, but not being black, the Pantone shade.
[21:28.480 -> 21:29.480] But why?
[21:29.480 -> 21:34.000] Well, if you remember, the color of the car actually changed to pink later.
[21:34.000 -> 21:36.400] So it was a sponsorship related thing.
[21:36.400 -> 21:39.160] We had a, you know, Reebok was one of the partners.
[21:39.160 -> 21:46.080] And then as Ravi was saying, while we were preparing, we had a Spanish apparel company, wasn't it?
[21:46.080 -> 21:48.440] I can't recollect the name.
[21:48.440 -> 21:49.280] Just not able to remember.
[21:49.280 -> 21:50.120] Too many brands.
[21:50.120 -> 21:50.940] Is it on the shirt?
[21:50.940 -> 21:51.780] Is it here somewhere?
[21:51.780 -> 21:52.620] Yours is Reebok.
[21:52.620 -> 21:53.940] Oh, okay.
[21:53.940 -> 21:55.000] The next one after this.
[21:55.000 -> 21:56.520] Oh, right.
[21:56.520 -> 21:58.500] And that's why it turned black.
[21:58.500 -> 22:00.120] And then a couple of seasons later,
[22:00.120 -> 22:02.820] it turned pink because of BWT and whatever.
[22:02.820 -> 22:04.200] So money talks.
[22:04.200 -> 22:06.480] And I mean, that was also when
[22:06.480 -> 22:13.840] VJM had sort of, you know, left the country, if I'm being very polite about it, or fleed the
[22:13.840 -> 22:19.840] country if we want to sensationalize it. So, it was maybe an anti-India sentiment. I don't know,
[22:19.840 -> 22:25.320] I'm just asking the question. Did you guys have access to him at that time?
[22:25.320 -> 22:28.520] Did you know how infuriated, if he was, of course,
[22:28.520 -> 22:30.480] infuriated because of this decision?
[22:30.480 -> 22:34.320] Because if someone just has a certain dislike for a color
[22:34.320 -> 22:36.960] and his old car becomes black and orange,
[22:36.960 -> 22:39.000] I don't think he'd be very happy, no?
[22:39.000 -> 22:41.560] Especially if it's someone as picky as Vijay.
[22:41.560 -> 22:42.400] You know, you're right,
[22:42.400 -> 22:44.000] but I think Kunal answered that question.
[22:44.000 -> 22:48.320] If you're him and you're chasing the money,
[22:48.320 -> 22:50.400] then possibly you don't mind compromising
[22:50.400 -> 22:53.120] on those superstitions.
[22:53.120 -> 22:55.120] If somebody is making your apparel
[22:55.120 -> 22:57.000] or you're getting money from a sponsor
[22:57.000 -> 22:59.600] and he or she is insisting on a certain color.
[22:59.600 -> 23:01.280] What kind of a billionaire is he?
[23:01.280 -> 23:03.800] I mean, I thought billionaires would be more picky than that.
[23:03.800 -> 23:07.600] I thought they'd sell off the whole team saying, nah, I just want my colour and not the 25 million,
[23:07.600 -> 23:13.200] but okay, interesting about that. But another fun fact about that very same car and that very
[23:13.200 -> 23:17.920] same livery is that Royal Challengers Bangalore, the cricket team we have, of course, mentioned
[23:17.920 -> 23:27.020] earlier on this podcast, which was of course owned by Vijay Mallya, also sponsored Force India in 2014. Now, in this very period of time, we had the
[23:27.020 -> 23:31.940] Saab, Saab Formula One team having a small football club called Chelsea and the logo
[23:31.940 -> 23:38.580] on their car as well. Logically speaking, it just doesn't make any sense to me because
[23:38.580 -> 23:43.060] essentially you're selling the same product, slightly different markets. Yes, because of
[23:43.060 -> 23:48.700] course football and cricket have a morecy appeal in their respective markets than Formula One, which was at least
[23:48.700 -> 23:53.040] at that time considered to be a very elite sport. But specifically for Force India and
[23:53.040 -> 23:57.960] RCB, what was there to gain? Why bother?
[23:57.960 -> 24:06.520] So talking of Chelsea and Sauber and RCB and Force India. These partnerships were back in time in the Bernie Eccleston days, right?
[24:06.520 -> 24:10.200] Those are also times when getting sponsorships
[24:10.200 -> 24:12.720] globally across sport was extremely tough
[24:12.720 -> 24:16.360] because you were talking of seven, eight figure sponsorships
[24:16.360 -> 24:17.640] which were tough to come by.
[24:17.640 -> 24:19.160] There were in fact so many teams
[24:19.160 -> 24:22.200] without a title sponsor in that period.
[24:22.200 -> 24:26.080] So one of the reasons why a lot of brands globally came together
[24:26.640 -> 24:31.920] from different walks of sport was to try and see if they could appeal a little more
[24:31.920 -> 24:40.160] with an elite while as well as a mass approach. But that's not exactly why the RCB logo was on
[24:40.160 -> 24:46.760] the Force India car. And I'm sure Ravi can narrate it much better than I will.
[24:46.760 -> 24:50.800] So if you look at most of the logos,
[24:50.800 -> 24:53.600] and therefore the sponsors on the Force India car,
[24:53.600 -> 24:58.760] they're largely alcoholic beverages brands
[24:58.760 -> 25:02.480] from Vijay Mallya's table of either United Spirits, which
[25:02.480 -> 25:05.680] are spirits brands like Vladivar and White and Makai
[25:05.680 -> 25:08.180] or Kingfisher Beer, right?
[25:09.640 -> 25:11.520] And then therefore he had a choice
[25:11.520 -> 25:13.860] of various brands to pick from.
[25:13.860 -> 25:17.880] But there were some races, especially Bahrain and Abu Dhabi
[25:17.880 -> 25:21.300] where, you know, given the local regulations,
[25:21.300 -> 25:24.960] we could not put alcohol brands either on the car
[25:24.960 -> 25:26.480] or on on you know
[25:26.480 -> 25:32.360] the team kits. So therefore typically during those times we redesigned both
[25:32.360 -> 25:38.680] the livery of the car, we redesigned the livery of the car as well as the entire
[25:38.680 -> 25:44.960] team kit you know choosing non-Alcobev logos. And I think Royal Challenges
[25:44.960 -> 25:45.840] Bangalore kind of
[25:46.960 -> 25:51.360] act as a very good surrogate marketing approach because Royal Challenge is a very popular drink
[25:51.360 -> 25:55.440] here in India. Absolutely. Was that the whole reason why the team was called Royal Challenges
[25:55.440 -> 26:00.080] Bangalore in the first place? Indeed, absolutely. And it worked over cricket, it worked in Formula
[26:00.080 -> 26:04.240] One. Yeah, it's a great way to promote a drink. And then just like Kingfisher Airlines worked for
[26:04.240 -> 26:05.400] Kingfisher beer. Exactly. Yeah, nobody asked. great way to promote a drink. And then just like Kingfisher Airlines worked for Kingfisher beer.
[26:05.400 -> 26:10.800] Exactly. Yeah, nobody asked. But hey, how tricky was it actually managing out the Gulf
[26:10.800 -> 26:16.880] markets? Because I can imagine that means change deliveries, changed uniforms for all
[26:16.880 -> 26:22.120] the crew members, change sponsor banners and changed team garages as well. That must be
[26:22.120 -> 26:27.360] crazy to adapt to. Yes, and before we actually go into how crazy it was,
[26:27.360 -> 26:31.840] hats off to VJM for being such a fantastic brand builder.
[26:32.400 -> 26:36.640] You know, he was like Ravi said, Kingfisher Airlines for Kingfisher beer and Royal
[26:36.640 -> 26:41.680] Challenge for Royal Challengers Bangalore and so on. So he could play around and build these
[26:41.680 -> 26:50.360] brands as he wanted to while also self brandingbranding himself as you know, self-made billionaire, India's Richard Branson, whatever, you know, all the
[26:50.360 -> 26:52.980] tags that sort of came with it.
[26:52.980 -> 26:55.880] Also King of Good Times, which then became Emperor of Good Times.
[26:55.880 -> 26:58.040] I don't know how that promotion happened.
[26:58.040 -> 26:59.040] It somehow happened.
[26:59.040 -> 27:02.880] Snoop, Dr. Snoop lines.
[27:02.880 -> 27:04.640] Has Kanye West become Kanye East?
[27:04.640 -> 27:06.500] I don't know, but...
[27:06.500 -> 27:08.000] I have an explanation for the Emperor.
[27:08.000 -> 27:09.000] Okay, there you go.
[27:09.000 -> 27:10.000] Yeah.
[27:10.000 -> 27:11.000] We will come to that.
[27:11.000 -> 27:12.000] But you were saying?
[27:12.000 -> 27:17.020] So, when it came to these Gulf markets, they were actually the worst times to actually
[27:17.020 -> 27:22.540] be people who were looking after sponsor logos and liveries and stuff.
[27:22.540 -> 27:26.320] Because on one hand, you knew what was actually going to go on the car
[27:26.320 -> 27:30.400] because, hey, it's, you know, you've done it one race and then you just do it every other race,
[27:30.400 -> 27:37.440] but you still needed to get it approved by him. And the, you know, the race team, the mechanics
[27:37.440 -> 27:43.040] would need an approval three months before and VJM's approval could come anything from three
[27:43.040 -> 27:46.560] days or three hours before the cars are coming out on track.
[27:46.560 -> 27:50.320] So there were always backup logos available in case he changes,
[27:50.320 -> 27:52.280] how big a logo should be.
[27:52.280 -> 27:53.960] So there could be that he approves a logo,
[27:53.960 -> 27:57.160] but hey, just in a different place on the car and the likes, right?
[27:57.160 -> 27:58.400] And that was always tough.
[27:58.400 -> 28:02.640] And that caught us out at one race in Abu Dhabi, right?
[28:02.640 -> 28:04.400] This got me out specifically.
[28:04.400 -> 28:06.660] So we all landed up with alcohol kits
[28:06.660 -> 28:09.620] because, hey, Reebok couldn't sort of, you know,
[28:09.620 -> 28:12.700] turn around in the time that we gave them.
[28:12.700 -> 28:15.660] And Andy Stevenson was furious saying,
[28:15.660 -> 28:18.000] oh my God, you know, we are Formula One team.
[28:18.000 -> 28:19.740] We can't be walking around with patches
[28:19.740 -> 28:21.920] because we all had white tape,
[28:21.920 -> 28:24.500] which we put on all the alcohol brands.
[28:24.500 -> 28:28.680] And then eventually we managed to get some kits
[28:28.680 -> 28:31.880] and some stuff for the race team and that got solved.
[28:31.880 -> 28:35.360] But the biggest challenge was for Deepika Padukone,
[28:35.360 -> 28:36.720] who was actually one of the ambassadors
[28:36.720 -> 28:39.920] of Kingfisher Airlines and hence was making an appearance
[28:39.920 -> 28:42.160] for the Force India Formula One team,
[28:42.160 -> 28:45.480] among other personal reasons why she came as well, right?
[28:45.480 -> 28:48.960] And Deepika actually ended up with the alcohol livery
[28:48.960 -> 28:51.400] because there was a t-shirt made exactly for her size
[28:51.400 -> 28:54.800] because she was a supermodel, a very promising
[28:54.800 -> 28:57.480] or one of the most established actresses at that time,
[28:57.480 -> 29:00.000] also a very humble human being,
[29:00.000 -> 29:01.960] had some great interactions with her.
[29:01.960 -> 29:03.760] And suddenly she walks into the paddock
[29:03.760 -> 29:06.400] with all the alcohol livery on her.
[29:06.400 -> 29:09.040] And then I remember just running to her saying,
[29:09.040 -> 29:10.220] we need you to change.
[29:10.220 -> 29:12.920] And she's like, but that's not in my size.
[29:12.920 -> 29:14.240] And I said, oh my goodness.
[29:14.240 -> 29:17.000] And then I was busy just putting white tape everywhere
[29:17.000 -> 29:19.040] on her T-shirt wherever I had to.
[29:19.040 -> 29:21.320] So some really fun times,
[29:21.320 -> 29:23.200] which you just had to get your hands dirty
[29:23.200 -> 29:25.160] and sort of live with things
[29:25.160 -> 29:26.160] as they came.
[29:26.160 -> 29:29.600] Wow, even she might be thinking, huh, really?
[29:29.600 -> 29:32.600] Do we have to wear patches now?
[29:32.600 -> 29:34.680] But it's crazy how it panned out at the end.
[29:34.680 -> 29:38.000] I mean, I just would not expect something quite like that.
[29:38.000 -> 29:42.640] But yeah, I guess we've heard about VJM and how his approvals always come at the last
[29:42.640 -> 29:43.640] minute, right?
[29:43.640 -> 29:46.480] We had that story on the last episode of this podcast
[29:46.480 -> 29:48.080] where we are discussing car launches.
[29:48.080 -> 29:50.280] And you guys just said that it nearly happened,
[29:50.280 -> 29:52.200] what, three hours before the launch actually came up?
[29:52.200 -> 29:53.200] So yeah.
[29:53.200 -> 29:55.800] But we have to go to Ravi, emperor of good times.
[29:55.800 -> 29:57.600] Emperor of good times, yes.
[29:57.600 -> 29:59.440] So that actually came from,
[29:59.440 -> 30:01.520] that's a very interesting story.
[30:01.520 -> 30:03.080] You know, we had Kingfisher beer,
[30:03.080 -> 30:04.800] which is Kingfisher premium.
[30:04.800 -> 30:05.240] And, you know, by then a lot of foreign beers had come in, Interesting story. We had Kingfisher beer, which is Kingfisher premium.
[30:05.240 -> 30:11.000] And by then a lot of foreign beers had come in, Carlsberg, Bud, and so on and so forth.
[30:11.000 -> 30:15.640] And we were working on Kingfisher Ultra, which would be an ultra premium beer.
[30:15.640 -> 30:23.480] And then when we were working on the marketing campaign, we said if Kingfisher beer is the
[30:23.480 -> 30:25.000] king of good times, then how do we position Kingfisher Beer is the king of good times,
[30:25.080 -> 30:27.920] then how do we position Kingfisher Ultra,
[30:27.920 -> 30:30.960] which is supposed to be several notches above.
[30:30.960 -> 30:35.760] And that's where, you know, between us and JWT, our agency,
[30:35.760 -> 30:38.180] we came up with the emperor of good times.
[30:39.240 -> 30:42.240] And not only that, you know, we said,
[30:42.240 -> 30:43.960] okay, so what's the ad campaign gonna be?
[30:43.960 -> 30:45.320] And we never released that and we changed the campaign what's the ad campaign going to be and I we never released
[30:45.320 -> 30:49.720] that and we changed the campaign. But the first campaign that JWT designed for us was
[30:49.720 -> 30:56.920] with Vijay Mallya as the face of Kingfisher Ultra. And then therefore, by logically, he
[30:56.920 -> 31:00.840] became the emperor of good times as well. Yeah. So we had all these layouts with the
[31:00.840 -> 31:06.280] Kingfisher Ultra and you know, VJM on his yacht here and there and
[31:06.280 -> 31:09.680] with, you know, Kingfisher Ultra, the emperor of good times.
[31:09.680 -> 31:14.200] Who else could it be? You just can't, you just don't need to roam in a brand ambassador
[31:14.200 -> 31:18.760] for Kingfisher as well because you've got VJM himself. That's just like the living dream
[31:18.760 -> 31:26.880] for everybody. And speaking of VJM, he also started his own reality show for Force India. I was unaware.
[31:26.880 -> 31:31.200] I really didn't know about this, probably because I didn't consume those particular channels. But
[31:31.200 -> 31:35.440] what's up with Speed Divas? I've just ended up hearing about it for the first time.
[31:35.440 -> 31:41.440] Oh, yes, that's that's a very interesting story. And that again, all credit to Vijay Mallya for
[31:41.440 -> 31:48.280] having a great marketing mind. And I'm reasonably certain he drew inspiration from his own initiative at Kingfisher Beer
[31:48.280 -> 31:50.120] with the Kingfisher Calendar Girls.
[31:50.120 -> 31:55.320] If you look at when he entered the world of F1 with the Force India team, but of course,
[31:55.320 -> 31:58.560] he had to make that car perform, which he did reasonably successfully making it the
[31:58.560 -> 32:01.880] best of the rest, because that was table stakes, right?
[32:01.880 -> 32:05.720] But he also what, but F1 is also about glamour.
[32:05.720 -> 32:11.980] And how could he build a brand, which he was always good at, with Force India.
[32:11.980 -> 32:17.160] And that's when he came up with the idea of having speed divas, right?
[32:17.160 -> 32:21.440] The Force India speed divas who are associated with the brand, as opposed to just having
[32:21.440 -> 32:33.440] glamour out there. And what was done was to create a reality show in association with MTV at that time, right, where there was a hunt for these speed divas.
[32:34.120 -> 32:37.640] And then we selected four girls who then traveled along.
[32:37.640 -> 32:39.520] There was a uniform for them, a kit.
[32:39.840 -> 32:43.160] They were trained and then they traveled around to select races.
[32:44.040 -> 32:51.540] They were trained and then they traveled around to select races. They were there for the garage tours and for a team which was watched relatively unknown.
[32:51.540 -> 32:57.220] It was amazing how we managed to draw attention to ourselves, right, which would have been
[32:57.220 -> 33:02.660] unthinkable and then it was so successful that we then went and did a Kunal and I did
[33:02.660 -> 33:06.000] a season two, this time with NDTV Good Times,
[33:06.000 -> 33:07.840] which is a partner TV channel.
[33:07.840 -> 33:09.360] Exactly.
[33:09.360 -> 33:13.120] I really just want to know the logic of calendars
[33:13.120 -> 33:13.960] in the first place,
[33:13.960 -> 33:16.040] but I suppose that's a topic for some other day,
[33:16.040 -> 33:17.540] when we have a little more time,
[33:17.540 -> 33:18.560] but I want to talk to you about
[33:18.560 -> 33:20.000] your favorite Force India memories.
[33:20.000 -> 33:22.280] Kunal, I'll firstly go with you on this one.
[33:22.280 -> 33:23.680] Lot of years spent at Force India,
[33:23.680 -> 33:25.840] what really pops up on your mind
[33:25.840 -> 33:27.920] as one of your favorite memories from that time there?
[33:27.920 -> 33:30.880] Apart from all the incredible ones you've shared already.
[33:30.880 -> 33:33.520] So I'm going to add to the speed, the worst thing, right?
[33:33.520 -> 33:35.720] And how did we gauge that it's successful
[33:35.720 -> 33:37.580] or it's working for us, right?
[33:37.580 -> 33:39.440] So typically when you go to a race
[33:39.440 -> 33:41.200] and you know, there's these open days
[33:41.200 -> 33:43.360] when the pit lane is open for everybody
[33:43.360 -> 33:45.440] and Ferrari by default
[33:45.440 -> 33:52.560] would be the most crowded team. You would not be able to find space to stand even 10 rows after the
[33:52.560 -> 33:58.160] pit lane is sort of guarded off. You know, those, the channel markers that you see at airports,
[33:58.160 -> 34:06.080] they sort of use that to sort of shut the pit lane, right? After a point it became Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and the likes, right?
[34:06.080 -> 34:11.080] And the fourth most crowded team ended up being Force India
[34:11.200 -> 34:14.800] just because people were so eager to go take selfies
[34:14.800 -> 34:17.400] with the speed divas, get a photo and the likes.
[34:17.400 -> 34:22.040] And for a brand that, for all the brands that he built
[34:22.040 -> 34:24.480] also were, one of the pillars were glamor
[34:24.480 -> 34:26.080] and this did really well for the team.
[34:26.080 -> 34:28.000] So a lot of social conversations
[34:28.000 -> 34:29.740] that started happening for the team.
[34:29.740 -> 34:32.780] And these were early days for social media as well, right?
[34:32.780 -> 34:35.280] But coming to some of my favorite memories,
[34:35.280 -> 34:37.980] and I have some really fascinating ones,
[34:37.980 -> 34:40.840] you know, one of them stands out as Nico Hulkenberg.
[34:40.840 -> 34:42.800] You know, he was a test driver with the team.
[34:42.800 -> 34:44.680] He traveled to India as the face
[34:44.680 -> 34:45.420] of the one
[34:45.420 -> 34:46.820] from a billion hunt.
[34:46.820 -> 34:51.280] And I got to ride in a twin seater go-kart with him
[34:51.280 -> 34:54.060] at the circuit in Goa.
[34:54.060 -> 34:57.240] And that was the year when Robert Kubica had his accident.
[34:57.240 -> 34:59.260] And some of the other regular drivers turned around
[34:59.260 -> 35:01.640] and said, no, no, no, we are not sitting in a go-kart.
[35:01.640 -> 35:04.620] And Niko turned around and said, where's my helmet, right?
[35:04.620 -> 35:08.160] So I was doing several laps with him, great fun.
[35:08.160 -> 35:10.740] And we built a bond over those couple of years
[35:10.740 -> 35:12.960] where he was trusting me a lot with a lot of things
[35:12.960 -> 35:14.860] and activities we were doing in India.
[35:15.760 -> 35:20.000] I actually even had, at one of the British Grand Prix,
[35:20.000 -> 35:22.440] Nico decided to take a scooter and say,
[35:22.440 -> 35:23.720] hey, why don't you hop back?
[35:23.720 -> 35:27.320] And then we rode from the factory to the paddock.
[35:27.320 -> 35:29.360] And when I look back, I'm like, oh my God,
[35:29.360 -> 35:33.480] I was actually with a Formula One driver, a billion,
[35:33.480 -> 35:35.240] and then we did a Mercedes track day
[35:35.240 -> 35:37.440] at the Booth International Circuit.
[35:37.440 -> 35:42.440] Paul Diresta drove all of us along with Adrian Sutil
[35:42.560 -> 35:46.120] on the circuit in one of the Mercedes road cars and Paul
[35:46.120 -> 35:50.080] di Resta. Yeah, lots of memories that I will that I have with him. Not so good, but I'm
[35:50.080 -> 35:54.580] going to I'm going to leave that aside. Let's just say he wasn't the most comfortable being
[35:54.580 -> 35:59.200] in India, even though he was racing for a Force India team. And then, you know, just
[35:59.200 -> 36:04.280] to sum it up, Adrian Sutil, we've said some really great things about him as a musician
[36:04.280 -> 36:06.840] and the likes in the previous episode.
[36:06.840 -> 36:09.080] Two things that really stood out about him,
[36:09.080 -> 36:12.840] especially Sutilgate as we know it, right?
[36:12.840 -> 36:14.960] He was dropped by the team for a year
[36:14.960 -> 36:17.880] and then he came back and he met me one of the races
[36:17.880 -> 36:21.460] and he said, so, same shit, different driver.
[36:21.460 -> 36:23.420] And you realize that that's literally
[36:23.420 -> 36:25.760] what you end up doing, right? So
[36:25.760 -> 36:32.400] some fantastic memories working with great teams, great agencies. And you know, it's like Ravi and
[36:32.400 -> 36:37.520] I haven't worked together since seven years, but it's very familial because we went through a lot
[36:37.520 -> 36:42.320] of hardships together. We built a lot of things together, having literally no money in the in the
[36:42.320 -> 36:45.560] banks or for the for the brands, but great, great memories. Hopefully we have more no money in the banks for the brands, but great memories.
[36:45.560 -> 36:49.840] Hopefully, we have more to share in the episodes to come if we do more.
[36:49.840 -> 36:52.520] I suppose there are going to be a few, but what about you, Saif?
[36:52.520 -> 36:54.320] You just had to sum up some of your best memories.
[36:54.320 -> 37:01.160] Oh, I think the first and most lasting is Adrian Sutil playing the piano in Mumbai.
[37:01.160 -> 37:02.400] Blue Frog, was it?
[37:02.400 -> 37:03.400] Yeah.
[37:03.400 -> 37:05.280] And I think over four or five years,
[37:05.280 -> 37:09.200] arranging for the season opening parties in Monaco
[37:09.200 -> 37:11.760] would possibly be another lasting memory.
[37:11.760 -> 37:13.000] Yes, absolutely.
[37:13.000 -> 37:14.560] Crazy, crazy times.
[37:14.560 -> 37:16.800] But let's hope we have more chances
[37:16.800 -> 37:18.240] to record episodes like this one,
[37:18.240 -> 37:20.200] because there are more stories.
[37:20.200 -> 37:22.220] We can tell that if we scratch the surface,
[37:22.220 -> 37:23.700] we are gonna get some more.
[37:23.700 -> 37:26.160] And folks, we will do that if you enjoy this one
[37:26.160 -> 37:31.600] so reach out to us to tell us if you enjoyed listening to this particular episode and all the other ones in the
[37:32.000 -> 37:36.320] History of force india f1 series that we've got right here on the inside line f1 podcast
[37:36.400 -> 37:38.080] But thanks for spending your time here
[37:38.080 -> 37:43.040] If you reach to this point and if you did like this episode reach out to us on social media leave a good rating
[37:43.280 -> 37:47.000] Subscribe to the podcast and also join us for our race watch alongs.
[37:47.000 -> 37:50.000] We've had some incredible virtual race watch alongs in 2022.
[37:50.000 -> 37:53.000] There are some good chances that we may have them in 23 as well.
[37:53.000 -> 37:55.000] So check out the link in the description for that.
[37:55.000 -> None] But until then, bye bye. you