Vijay Mallya insists he is still in control of the Force India Formula One team despite recently stepping down as the as the chairman of his liquor company United Spirits Limited (USL).
Mallya struck a deal with controlling shareholder Diageo to stand down as chairman of USL last week, sparking rumours he was on the verge of relinquishing control of his Formula One team too. Mallya's 42.5 percent share in Force India forms part of a security package being held as collateral by Diageo to underpin the payment of a $135 million loan owed by Watson Limited, a company affiliated to Mallya and holding his shares in the F1 team, to Standard Chartered Bank.
But Mallya insists he is not about to cut another deal with Diageo over the F1 team.
"Nothing has changed at Force India, I remain team principal and managing director," he told the Press Trust of India. "If you take loan, you give some shares as security. That does not mean security has changed.
"Diageo may have security over my shares but ownership has not changed. I don't know why everybody is making a deal about it."
He added: "Formula One has nothing to do with my stepping down from United Spirits. They are not connected at all.
"In F1, nothing has changed. The ownership pattern remains exactly the same."
Meanwhile, the Sahara Group is looking to sell its 42.5 percent share in Force India in order to help raise funds to release founder Subrata Roy from jail.
On track, the team enjoyed a strong start to pre-season testing with Nico Hulkenberg setting the fastest time on the third day of last week's opening test.