The Formula 1 grid may only consist of 18 cars this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix as the fallout from Force India’s takeover continues.
After entering administration four weeks ago, the Silverstone-based team was sold to a consortium backed by Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams driver Lance.
However, it has now emerged that the Canadian only has the keys to the F1 operation and not the holding company which owns the entry to the current world championship.
To obtain that would require consent from the creditors linked to former owners Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy, however, that has reportedly not been obtained with RaceFans claiming only the assets of the team were sold with Stroll needing to set up a new company.
If that is the case then the team would be prohibited from taking to the track at Spa-Francorchamps and would also lose out on any prize money unless a unanimous agreement was reached with the other nine F1 teams.
Efforts are underway to secure their participation this weekend and beyond, but another sign of the changing times comes with F1i.com revealing that personnel were seen removing the ‘Sahara Force India’ logos from transport trucks and other equipment in the Belgium paddock.
