Vijay Mallya - Don't compare us with Brawn GP

It is not right to hail Brawn GP's success as a David versus Goliath-style feat, according to Vijay Mallya.

The Indian billionaire is the boss and owner of Force India, an independent team that is yet to spring off the back rows of the grid.

Brawn's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualified and finished first and second in Australia last week, a triumph hailed as a ‘fairytale’ story for an outfit that nearly collapsed over the winter.

But although the Albert Park livery was blank, Mallya insists that Brawn's success was powered by the huge investment of its now-departed owner, the Japanese carmaker giant Honda.

He said it is therefore unfair to compare Brawn with fellow privateer and UK-based Force India's struggle for F1 success.

"I know that Ross (Brawn) dumped the 2008 car early on, and has spent almost a year developing the 2009 car, with the benefit of a full-scale wind tunnel and all the other facilities available at Brackley.”

"That car has had a huge amount of technical and financial resources thrown at it," said Mallya.

"So I wouldn't say that it's fair to compare the Brawn GP car's performance with an independent team," he added.