Feb.21 (GMM) The CEO of the Dutch sports car maker Spyker has indicated that he is relieved to have offloaded the Silverstone based formula one team to new owners Force India.

Spyker spent much of its short lived participation on the grid amid speculation that its parent group was in financial crisis.

The specialist builder of hand-built sports cars is now reportedly in better shape.

"Formula one turned out to be a massive bleeder, losing two million euros a month because some sponsors did not pay," CEO Victor Muller told Automotive News Europe.

"This drained our production capital," he added.

Under the new ownership of Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol, Force India's F1 budget for 2008 will be up to $50 million higher than in the Spyker era.

"70 million dollars is barely enough to get to the races," the team's continuing technical boss Mike Gascoyne told India Times.

"(With the former budget) there's nothing left for research and development," he added.