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The Formula 1 Thread

Nick_L

By Nick_L
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Bruciebabie

Bruciebabie

Posted
Posted

How F1 works (notice how Flav avoids tax): http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-bus...f1-broadcast.do

Flavio Briatore, the former boss of Renault's Formula-1 team, made £6.5 million last year from the rights to broadcast the sport in Spain according to the latest accounts for his Kent-based company Stacourt.

Since then, however, Briatore has had little enough to smile about: in September he resigned from Renault after it was discovered that he fixed the result of a race last year. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) — F1's governing body — banned him from working in the sport but Briatore will today challenge this in a French court and is demanding at least €1 million (£901,000) in damages.

Last year Stacourt paid a £670,000 dividend and a £5.8 million consultancy fee to Formula FB Business, Briatore's Virgin Islands management company, a £600,000 increase on what was paid a year earlier. Stacourt is controlled by Briatore's FB Trust and its revenues come from selling the rights to broadcast F1 in Spain, one of the sport's most lucrative markets.

Last year Spain's interest in F1 took off as the country hosted two races for the first time in more than a decade. Briatore has made more than £22 million from Stacourt since it was set up in 2002. Most TV rights deals are arranged directly by the Formula One Group but its chief executive Bernie Ecclestone handed the Spanish rights to Briatore for a song because F1 had little exposure in Spain.

Briatore changed that by signing Fernando Alonso, a Spanish driver who was managed by him, to drive for Renault in 2003. A year later, Stacourt sold the Spanish rights to TV channel Telecinco for an estimated annual £3.5 million.

The 2004 Spanish Grand Prix became the most-watched race in the country and interest exploded when Alonso won back-to-back world championships in 2005 and 2006. Stacourt's turnaround has been so successful that F1's ultimate owner, private equity firm CVC, seized the rights from Briatore this year and signed a contract directly with rival Spanish station Mediapro for an annual £65 million.

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gone fishin

gone fishin

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Yeah, it all adds up to why Briatore had become way too powerful for the FIA's liking- he managed several drivers, had interests in broadcasting, managed an F1 team (and basically Renault were bank rolling Team Briatore) and had a massive part of the F1 feeder series- GP2 (where he was getting the pick of drivers to manage).

I think the final straw came when he was hosting the other team principles on his yacht to discuss the whole concept of a breakaway series. After that, Mosley was out to get him. It might have also resulted in Max having to not stand for re-election, but it also meant Briatore's power was taken away.

There's no doubt he'll be back, but it's scary to see how much Bernie had given to his old mate Flav. I wonder if he was being lined up to take over from Bernie? Oh well.. I guess Flav's been shafted enough now...

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marsh

marsh

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I acn't see Todt being keen on having someone back in the fold like that again, not after the deliberate act of cheating they got caught with. The team got off lightly to keep them in the sport, but Flav took the full force.

Can't say I miss him, he was a bit of a cock.

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morcs

morcs

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No way, he's just as shit in DTM as he was in F1.

I hope that if USF1 make it to the races that they put one of the characters of the weekly F1 youtube thingy on the car.

Speaking of DTM, Paul Di Resta has a test drive for Force India and could become the next British F1 driver.

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Snowman

Snowman

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I got to number 2 and thought, "Job done, surely?" then I got to the end of the list...

<_<

Edit:

Jenson Button might be world champion but prior to this season he'd won exactly one of 170 races (the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix) and it was reminiscent of Jochen Mass's in that just about all the top runners had crashed out and he was literally the last man standing when the race ended.

He was with top teams — Williams, Benetton, Renault — and yet when the chips were down he couldn't come through. He won six races this season, primarily because of a car that had an advantage at the start of the year. When the other teams caught up, the jig was up for Jenson but he was so far ahead at that point that nobody else could catch him.

He's a competitive guy and a good driver but — like most of the Toronto Maple Leafs who are NHL-calibre players except they can't score goals — he's not a winner.

IIRC, they were all mid-fielders at best.

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gone fishin

gone fishin

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Yeah, I love it how they say that Michael Andretti isn't included because he didn't finish a season. Hmmm.. maybe because he was so shit at F1 was the reason he didn't manage to complete a season? And this was a guy who was absolutely hyped up at the time.

And maybe because it's a .ca domain (so I take it that it's Canadian) they somehow manage to fail to mention Jacques Villeneuve, but somehow Jenson Button is considered a flop? Not only that, the rest of the list aren't exactly filled with big named flops? Where's Juan Pablo Montoya? Sebastien Bourdais? There's two more massive flops (well JPM never managed to live to his potential) from the world of Indy Car/ CHAMP/ CART world of North American racing.

It's just a bit bizarre that they've listed, mostly, a bunch of absolute no-names. What a load of old crap.

EDIT- and now thinking about it, why not stick Gilles Villeneuve in the list? The Canadians go on and fucking on about him, yet he never actually won a championship- with only 6 wins in his entire career (oh, and Button's ripped into for just winning 6 this year). I've always thought of him as being an over-rated driver. But I guess you can't speak ill of the dead. Bollocks.

ANOTHER EDIT- Bollocks, Jaques is on the list... I got as far as Button and stopped. Well, at least they got one of them right. I'm going to have my lunch.

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JPR

JPR

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I guess the list is doing what they want though, driving traffic to the website all it's good for though.

Good news about Sauber, be nice to see them back on the grid, wonder if they will go back to Ferrari. Much better than some investment fund, we'll leave those to just owning the rights to the sport instead. :facepalm:

Apparently VW are talking about the possibility of becoming an engine supplier in 2012. They seem intent on just being an engine supplier which seems wise at the moment. So from manufacturers all leaving, to new ones at least talking about coming in, the merry go round that is F1.

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gone fishin

gone fishin

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I guess the list is doing what they want though, driving traffic to the website all it's good for though.

Good news about Sauber, be nice to see them back on the grid, wonder if they will go back to Ferrari. Much better than some investment fund, we'll leave those to just owning the rights to the sport instead. :facepalm:

Apparently VW are talking about the possibility of becoming an engine supplier in 2012. They seem intent on just being an engine supplier which seems wise at the moment. So from manufacturers all leaving, to new ones at least talking about coming in, the merry go round that is F1.

Sounds interesting about VW supplying engines... but I wonder if they would brand it VW, Audi, Lamborghini or Porsche? It's not as if VW is that big a name in racing, but Audi, Lamborghini and Porsche certainly are.... they've got so much to choose from!

There's an interesting quote from the VW rep about them buying a team (like they were rumoured to be buying Red Bull a couple of years ago- "If you buy Red Bull and Adrian Newey wants to go flying or fishing, the team is not successful any more. Look at BMW. They bought this multi-million dollar wind tunnel and a supercomputer and they now close the doors."

It does sum up quite a bit of it- the principles, or designers, do seem to control the success of a team. If Ross Brawn also decided to take up fishing or flying, then I'm sure Mercedes would be in a bit of bother...

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JPR

JPR

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Sounds interesting about VW supplying engines... but I wonder if they would brand it VW, Audi, Lamborghini or Porsche? It's not as if VW is that big a name in racing, but Audi, Lamborghini and Porsche certainly are.... they've got so much to choose from!

I think it's just talk as the VW group at the moment so I assume it's open to how they brand it. If it is subject to Max's World engine plan coming in to effect though, as seems suggested, you can see what the attraction for VW would be and possibly other manufacturers. They just develop one engine, keep it as VW in F3, put the turbo and other bits on it and badge it as Porsche or Audi in F1, then use it or sell it to teams for touring cars and WRC across all their brands. So cost of developing one engine gets you exposure in a whole range of disciplines.

The world engine idea on one hand does seem to go against what Formula 1 is, but if it does come with some room for development with the bolt on parts could be better than what we have now. I think it could be good for motor sport in general as well, big supply of engines for various disciplines, should be easier for a team to move up a class I would have thought, as they know the engine and have deals sorted out and keeps the costs down for all.

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