Well, nearly. After Force India's announcement of the end of their engine deal with Ferrari, Vijay went on to say that Colin Kolles and Mike Gascoyne are leaving the team. This is not a complete surprise, given that rumor had it that prospective drivetrain suppliers, McLaren/Mercedes, are not all that keen on working with Colles, but the departure of Gascoyne must surely raise some eyebrows. Memories of Toyota's loss of performance after getting rid of Gascoyne must surely surface.
The team at work
Having said that, it must be added that Mallya seems to know what he is doing. Much of the credit for the team's improvement this year has gone to Gascoyne, deservedly so no doubt, but he is known to be a difficult personality to work with, even if that is largely because he does not sweeten the pill of bad news for his employers. We should remember the stories this season of discontent and strife in the Force India camp; it may be that Mallya has decided that a team that works together may be more effective than one in constant conflict.
That remains to be seen, of course. Vijay will be taking over the direction of the team himself while Mark Smith and James Key are responsible for the design of the cars. It says much for Mallya's enthusiasm and confidence that he is willing to take the project on and I would not bet against him.
The survival of Colin Kolles through three changes of ownership of the team has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Although the failure of Midland and Spyker was not entirely due to Kolles' team leadership, it remains a question mark over his abilities. The strife within the team this season was, perhaps, the deciding factor in Mallya's decision to do the job himself, it being the team manager's task to ensure that employees work together in harmony.
It was a brave choice, in my opinion. There will be some expectation that Force India will fail this season without the expertise of Gascoyne but we should remember that the core of the team is still the Jordan employees who are not entirely unacquainted with success. The day of the lone engineer has passed and there are no miracle workers left. The time it is taking for Ross Brawn to have an effect at Honda is abundant evidence of that fact and Mallya may be correct in thinking that the effective working of the team is more important than the brilliance of one engineer.
It will also be the first time that Mercedes have supplied engines and drivetrains to a customer. That in itself will be interesting to watch, especially as word was that Force India's Ferrari engines were not quite the same as those enjoyed by the factory team and Toro Rosso. Somehow I suspect that Mallya is likely to get a fairer deal from Mercedes - you may call that bias on my part, if you wish.
So there are big changes at Force India for next season. Personally, I hope they work for the team and that they will be able to score points this time around.