Vijay Mallya silenced all the speculation and rumouring over Force India's financial situation, which is suggested to be critical. The Indian businessman and sports manager made his first ever media appearance in an F1 paddock this season, looking to downplay all the insistent chit-chatter about his team being sold, as well as on the brink of not completing the current season.

"It felt great to walk back in the paddock, but I always anticipated it as this has been going on for two years now. I'm very fortunate. They set me up with a virtual pit wall at home, so I get to enjoy all the action and I do a little bit better than the guys on the pit wall because I have all the data. So it feels like the real thing."

"If yougo back to all the media reports from early 2017, they said that we took the 2016 car to Barcelona to the test because they said we didn't have the money to fly the 2017 one, yet we finished the championship in 4th. I'm getting a little tired of hearing all this." he steadily claimed.

"We showed our performance. As for our financial situation, it has always been very tight for independent teams. Claire Williams earlier today at the press conference was very honest and transparent. She said that we have limited resources, make the best use of them and through that we are able to punch up all our weight."

"We completed our 200th GP despite a lot of media speculation in the past, but in ten years we have achieved it as Force India and I'm very proud of this."

The Indian personality is confident that Force India can carve through the field in 2018, as it is only 2 points away from McLaren, 7 from Haas and relying on the statistics' from the past few years, the team successfully caught the opposition in spite of holding a 20-point deficit.