- Wind-tunnel dispute
Force India turns bad news into good
There appears to be no end to how PR companies can spin bad news into good. In the case of Force India, its latest effort is not far short of claiming that failing to qualify for the next grand prix would actually be a tremendous victory.
No sooner had Force India failed in its High Court action against Team Caterham and Mike Gascoyne, their chief technical officer, than the team issued a press release trumpeting the fact it had won its claim for copyright infringement against Aerolab, an Italian wind-tunnel business, and been awarded £21,000.
While that was true, it overlooked the fact the rest of its case had been booted unceremoniously into touch and the High Court awarded £820,000, plus damages and interest at the rate of 8%, to Aerolab for unpaid fees incurred by Force India.
It also seems likely that Force India will also face a legal bill of several million pounds for the two-year case.
The matter rumbles on as Force India will refer its one victory - the copyright infringement - to the FIA while a separate legal action in Italy is ongoing.
It has been a bad few days for the team's majority shareholder Vijay Mallya. His prestige Kingfisher Airlines has had its bank accounts frozen and most of the airline's fleet has been grounded with international flights having been abandoned since yesterday.
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