Racing Point CEO Admits he Wants to Change the Team's Name

Racing Point F1 (formerly Force India)'s CEO, Otmar Szafnauer, has admitted to the fact that he would like to see the name of his team ahead of the 2019 season. After its legal troubles got over, the team was known as 'Racing Point Force India' for the rest of the 2018 season.

“Racing Point was an off-the-shelf company that was used to buy the assets of Force India. So it could very well be that we change again," said Szafnauer.

“There’s still an opportunity to go to the Formula 1 Commission with a different name. Unless there’s something better then it could very well be Racing Point. I hope we do find something better.”

The team, which runs one of the most hilarious Twitter accounts in F1, mostly by banter with other F1 team accounts, got a taste of its own medicine when twitter users trolled them for the ridiculous new name and the CEO seems bemused too.

“Force India, for obvious reasons, won’t be referenced any more,” he said. “It was the old entity and it had a strong link to the old ownership as well."

“I think it’s a natural change. Even the previous shareholders who were both Indian wanted to change the name from Force India. I think there’s a logical reason to do that, we just have to, from now until mid-January, pinpoint exactly what the name’s going to be.”

The team will have a completely new look next season, with new owners and new drivers, with Lance Stroll joining the team in place of Frenchman Esteban Ocon, who has been relegated to being Mercedes' reserve driver, at least for 2019. He'll be eagerly waiting in the wings in case Bottas has a poor season, forcing Mercedes to look elsewhere.

Stroll meanwhile has been presented a golden opportunity to showcase his talent in a proper midfield car, having so far been labelled as a pay driver and having to fend off accusations that his billionaire father bought him a seat in F1.