Force India to keep F1 prize money despite re-entry

Force India will be allowed to keep its prize money benefits worth an estimated £50 million from the past two Formula 1 seasons despite its rebrand and acceptance as a new, mid-season entry to the constructors’ championship.

The FIA announced on Thursday it had come to an agreement with teams and the commercial rights holder to allow Force India to re-enter the 2018 championship as a new entity following the sale of its assets to a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, saving more than 400 jobs at the team, now known as Racing Point Force India.

The team will debut at Spa this weekend starting on zero points in the constructors’ championship, with the old Sahara Force India entry being excluded from the standings and docked all of its points.

The announcement did not make the technicalities of Racing Point Force India’s entry clear, but it was expected it would lose the right to the F1 prize money earned for competing in the past two years – known as the ‘Column 1’ payments – as it was technically a new team. It was for a similar reason that Haas has not been eligible for the Column 1 payment until 2018.

However, new Force India team principal Otmar Szafnauer confirmed on Friday the remaining nine teams had agreed for the team to retain its prize money benefits and its Column 1 payments. These are estimated to be worth around £50m over two years.

“The remaining nine teams have signed a document that enables us to keep the money that Sahara Force India had earned in years past,” Szafnauer confirmed.

“We’re a new entrant, we start from zero. We’ll do the best we can to score as many points as we can in the remaining races and see where we end up at the end of the season. That will determine some of the prize fund for the following year.”

There was also some confusion as to whether the new entry would continue with Force India’s existing power unit allocation from the season so far, or get a fresh allowance of all components.

Szafnauer confirmed the team would not get a fresh allowance, with drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon continuing with their current numbers.

“We had confirmation today from Charlie that we will continue with the engine allocation and gearbox allocation as if we never ceased racing,” Szafnauer said.

“I think in his eyes, that was the most fair thing to do vis-a-vis the other teams. That’s how we’re going to go forward.”