"Travelled in private plane, producer of Kingfisher beer" - Fernando Alonso's former teammate on Force India owner Vijay Mallya

Fernando Alonso's former teammate Giancarlo Fisichella opened up about his former team owner Vijay Mallya in a recent interview with corriere.it.

Force India, later rebranded as the Racing Point F1 team, was owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya. His aviation line, Kingfisher Airlines, went bankrupt while the team was still running in F1.

Fisichella spoke about his time in F1 and also about his relationship with his former team bosses, Flavio Briatore and Mallya.

“He travelled in a private plane; he had the Indian Empress, a 97-metre yacht; he owned football and cricket teams; he was the producer of Kingfisher beer, a name he also gave to a then bankrupt airline, the first Indian to have ordered the A380," he said (via corriere.it).

Fisichella began his F1 career back in 1996 with Minardi, later moving on to teams like Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, and lastly Force India. He raced alongside two-time world champion Fernando Alonso back in 2005.

Renault were in their prime at the time, as they clinched back-to-back World Championships and the Constructors Championship with Fernando Alonso.

Fisichella also reflected on his relationship with Flavio Briatore, who at that time was running Renault. He admitted to having a good relationship with Briatore despite being the "number two" driver.

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Fernando Alonso reveals his biggest regret in his F1 career

F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna - Previews

Fernando Alonso recently said that, while not enjoying his career is still his biggest regret, winning a championship with Ferrari would be the first thing he'd like to change about his time in Formula 1.

“Winning a championship with Ferrari, that will probably be the first thing I choose if I can go back in time,” Alonso said on High Performance Podcast.

After winning two world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, Fernando Alonso moved to Scuderia Ferrari in hopes of winning his third title. But while he won his debut race with the team and led the championship standings at one point, he was unable to take his third title due to some poor team strategy calls, which helped Sebastian Vettel take his maiden F1 World Championship.