Back in 2016, fashion industry billionaire Lawrence Stroll spent a reported $80 million to get his son, Lance Stroll, a seat at Williams. Now the elder Stroll has gone and bought up an entire Formula One team, the struggling Force India.
Force India was looking like it was about to shut down until Stroll stepped in to bring FIF1 out of administration, as RaceFans.net reports:
A deal to save the team has been agreed between the joint administrators, senior members of the team’s management and a group of investors led by Stroll.
The latter includes Stroll’s business partner Silas Chou, Canadian businessman Andre Desmarais, Jonathan Dudman of management advisory firm Monaco Sports and Management, chairman of Michael Kors fashion brand John Idol, telecommunications investor John McCaw Jnr and Engel & Völkers vice chairman Michael de Picciotto.
Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said: “This outcome secures the future of the Force India team in Formula 1 and will allow our team of racers to compete to our full potential.
It would be easy to say that this is just a dad buying his son an F1 team, with various commenters already complaining that this isn’t great for the sport, that we’re going to have to spend years watching Lance drive around instead of, presumably, someone more interesting. But now 405 F1 engineers who might have been out of a job are now still employed, so that ain’t all bad.
No official announcement has been made about young Lance switching from Williams to the new dad-owned team but don’t be surprised if it happens.