Kolles and Gascoyne leave Force India

Colin Kolles and Mike Gascoyne are the two victims of a reshuffle in the management of the Force India team that will take place at the beginning of next week.

Kolles, the team principal, and Gascoyne, the technical director, will no longer play any formal role within the team. It is the owner, Vijay Mallya, who is taking full responsibility for team management.

The Indian will be assisted in his new role by Force India director, Robert Fernley. On the technical front, Mark Smith, the current design director, and James Key, the technical director, will share responsibility for designing the future cars.

Speaking about these changes, Mallya stated: « Force India is the most difficult project I have dealt with to date. It is clear that it requires a greater input from my side. »

« We have come a long way this season but we need more, which requires some reorganization of the management structure to ensure maximum productivity. »

I would like to thank Colin Kolles for his day-to-day efforts and Mike Gascoyne for the wealth of his technical expertise. These two men played a crucial role in the birth of the Force India team.

On Monday, November 10, I will announce the new technical direction of the team as well as the appointment of a new operations manager who will assume responsibilities during races and testing, as well as at the factories in Silverstone and Brackley.

Force India is expected to finalize a technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes in 2009.