Vijay Mallya has made a further statement in his bid to set up his own F1 team as a force. The Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines has ended its sponsorship deal with Toyota following his purchase of the erstwhile Spyker F1 team. Toyota announced that the two parties had mutually agreed to terminate the partnership with a year left to run on the contract. The end of the sponsorship deal will now allow Mallya to focus solely on his new Force India team's F1 programme in 2008.

Chairman and Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina said: "I would like to thank Kingfisher Airlines for its support during 2007 and I wish Dr Mallya good luck with his new Formula 1 venture. I look forward to seeing him next season, even if he is now associated with a rival team."

Force India is yet to announce its driver line-up. It was reported that the line-up would be finalized on December 25 and announced in early January.