The decision by Lewis Hamilton to move to Mercedes, bizarre though it is, has started things moving in the F1 driver market, with Michael Schumacher being elbowed out of the sport (again) and much talk about who will go to Sauber, to replace Sergio Perez. Kamui Kobayashi showed on Sunday that he is no slouch and that Sauber would be foolish to dump him, unless there is a better offer. Kobayashi, contrary to popular belief, is not a pay-driver. Sauber pays him and there is no sponsorship that he had to bring to get the drive. Drivers like Kamui are becoming fewer and fewer as teams tighten their belts and look for men with talent AND financial support. It is hard to define a pay-driver these days because some argue that sponsors follow them, rather than them taking the money to the team, but the best way to define it is to ask: “Would Driver X be with Team Y if there was no money?” If you apply that test down through the F1 grid, it gets rather frightening. There are the big stars, who get paid a lot of money, and there are the pay-drivers, who hand over a lot of money, but there are only a handful of drivers in between.
Most teams will tell you that a pay-driver is unlikely to score the same number of points as a driver who is earning. This is logical given that the earning drivers have risen through the sport on their talent and ability alone, without needing to pay. Others have paid the bills. Thus all the F1 teams have to make their driver decisions based on whether the revenue from the pay-driver will be more or less than the prize money gained or lost. One must also take into account the tangible cost of the salary that must be paid to a non-paying driver, and the intangible cost of damage that is done to the team’s image, which might deter sponsors from getting involved. Points generate cash and so one needs drivers who will score points, or who will provide enough cash not to need to score points. To understand the dynamics of such calculations, one needs to understand the prize fund, which of course is a secret.
Why? Because people in F1 like keeping secrets and do not understand that money can be used as a promotional tool. In the United States of America, for example, you will often hear promoters thumping their drums over “a race for a million dollars”. It gets fans excited. F1 has no such imagination but the races even for minor positions are often worth a great deal more than that. The numbers change each year, based on the revenues generated, but in 2011 the teams divided a prize fund of close to $700 million between them.
Ferrari has a special deal at the moment that means that the Italian team takes two and a half percent of the prize money straight off the top, which means that it got $17.5 million in 2011, leaving the prize fund with $682.5 million.
This money was then divided into two equal payment schedules, each worth $341.25 million.
The first fund was divided equally between the top 10 teams, giving them each $34 million.
The second fund was divided up based on performance, with the winning team in the Constructors’ Championship getting 19 percent and the other nine teams taking percentages of 16, 13 11, 10, nine, seven, six, five and four. The 11th and 12th teams get $30m apiece and fewer benefits so the fight for 10th place is particularly fraught. But what is it really worth?
With the numbers we have above, one can calculate with reasonable accuracy the prize money that was paid out last year. First place would have paid $64.8m, plus the $34m share, giving Red Bull Racing a total of $98.8m in prize money. Second place (McLaren) would have been worth $54.6 plus $34m, giving $88.6m; while third-placed Ferrari ended up with $95.8 million (more than McLaren) because third place would have been worth $78.3m plus the team’s special payment of $17.5m.
Fourth place was worth $71.5m; fifth $68.1m; sixth $64.7; seventh $57.8; eighth $54.4; ninth $51m and 10th $47.6m.
From these figures one can extrapolate the value of each place gained in the Constructors’ Championship, so one can ascertain the difference between first and second at $10.2m; second and third $10.3; third and fourth $6.8m; fourth and fifth $3.4m; fifth and sixth $3.4m; sixth and seventh $6.9m; seventh and eighth $3.4m; eighth and ninth $3.5m; and ninth and 10th $3.4m. The reason the little teams get so excited about being 10th is because there is a difference of $17.6 million between the two places.
With these numbers one can see that a drop from sixth to eighth, for example, would cost a team $10.3 million in prize money, plus image damage, so any pay-driver would have to bring at least $15m in order to make the deal a worthwhile one for the team involved. This means that midfield teams like Williams, Lotus, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso and Caterham must balance the money paid by a driver against the lost revenues.
Williams, as an example, has a deal with PDVSA for a Venezuelan driver – currently Pastor Maldonado – which is worth an estimated $55 million per season, although there are likely to be some commissions paid on this deal which will reduce the money that arrives at Grove. There was minimal risk for the team with such a deal because with ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2010, plus Bruno Senna’s support amounting to a rumoured $12m, the team gained in the region of $60m, but only risked a tenth of that figure in terms of prize money. This meant that the team could invest in new engineers and improving its infrastructure. There was no doubt some image damage done to Williams, but it is easy to repair such things when money is available. You simply buy the best available drivers and everyone soon forgets the bad old days of pay-drivers.
When one understands the prize fund, one sees that it is more logical for a smaller team to take a risk and pay a half-decent driver a couple of million in order to be in a position to score points, rather than taking a pay-driver with a $10m budget. This is why Sauber had Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham has Heikki Kovalainen, Marussia has Timo Glock and HRT has Pedro de la Rosa. These men MUST prove their value against pay-drivers or face paid dismissal. Right now Glock’s future is not very bright as pay-driver Charles Pic has done a very decent job and Kovalainen needs to watch out as well because Vitaly Petrov has matched him all year.
Kobayashi’s podium finish in Japan ought to save his drive in 2013 because if he and Sergio Perez can overhaul Mercedes in the final races this year, the team could finish fifth in the Constructors’Championship, compared to last year’s seventh place. The financial gain would be prize money around $10m, so it is clear that it was a far better idea to keep Kobayashi rather than to take on a pay-driver with “only” $10m available.
If Pic moves from Marussia, the team would probably take a similar kind of driver to replace him. This will work in Glock’s favour because the team needs technical continuity to move forwards. This would seem to play into the hands of Max Chilton, who not only has money behind him, but has also been something of a revelation in GP2 this year. Others such as Luis Razia, Davide Valsecchi and Giedo Van der Garde have money behind them and pretty decent results in GP2, although none of them have enough of a reputation to get into F1 without funding behind them.
Sauber will continue to have support from its Mexican sponsors in 2013, and it would be logical to promote Esteban Gutiérrez to take over from the departing Perez, but only if the team believes that the youngster would do a similar job to that done this year by Sergio. It is a gamble.
It is a similar story down at Williams. The team has high hopes for third driver Valtteri Bottas but must now decide whether it is worth the risk of putting the young Finn into a race drive. He will probably make a few mistakes, but he is likely to collect more points than the quick but highly unreliable Maldonado and the accident-prone Senna. If Bottas can find some sponsorship to reduce the team’s risk then he is a slam-dunk for the drive, if only because Williams does not want to see its young hopeful snatched away by a rival team with more cash.
Senna might argue that he will be better next year, but unless he has a bigger budget he has no chance of holding on to the Williams drive because he has not done enough to make it worthwhile ousting Pastor and he does not have the same kind of money that Maldonado can pull in. That is tough for the Brazilian but it is a reality. However he could be attractive to a Sauber or a Caterham as the possibility of more sponsorship AND more prize money would make him a better choice than Kovalainen or Petrov. The other man who would be very attractive to these midfield teams is Pic, but only if he has a sensible budget supporting his progress.
Lotus has had an interesting year with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. That was a risky pairing in that Kimi was rusty from rallying; and Grosjean was a man who had failed in F1 and wanted to try again. The success this year has not been enough to increase prize money in a dramatic fashion as the team will only get $3.4m extra, but this is because F1 gets harder the closer one gets to the top.
It is not clear whether the combined salaries of the two men are more or less than the increase in prize money they have won, but sponsors are more likely to support the team nowadays, so it has been a successful gamble – even if Grosjean has been a little wild. Next year he ought to calm down and become more consistent. So, even if Mark Webber thinks Grosjean should be kicked out of F1, the Franco-Swiss driver is a logical choice for the team.
what about Sahara Force India lineup situation…
I’d be more interested to know what happens to the money supply before thinking about drivers.
Their airline company is in deep ish. I was flying last Sunday with a different airline, on account of having doubts about Kingfisher going through with their flights. Turns out, while I was waiting for my own flight on Sunday evening, all remaining KF flights. This was over a week ago. Since then, they haven’t flown a single plane and their chances of coming back are looking slim, considering the national regulatory body is demanding a few things before they are given the go-ahead. They haven’t paid salaries to their employees for half-a-year now, I believe.
If he can seperate his liquor business from his airline business and keep it, he will stay afloat. If his liquor business goes under, you can say bye-bye to Force India.
I accidentally a few words..
Turns out, while I was waiting for my own flight on Sunday evening, all remaining KF flights were cancelled.
You have to look at what shares are pledged…
What happens if Kingfisher/Sahara cannot provide funds to get the team to a race or worse, cannot finish the season?
From memory if they miss 3 races they are chucked out. Though someone could buy all the assets, the entry would be terminated, and whoever did so would have to enter as a new team.
“demanding a few things”
I thought it was about a billion things :~)
A billion of some things and a few other things
Joe, one question I have about the “pay driver” scenarios…do those types of drivers have performance clauses in their contracts like most drivers who are being paid? If the team is collecting a lot of money from the driver-related sponsors, I could conceive of the team not having any performance-related recourse, since the sponsorship revenue is effectively guaranteed revenue…
It depends on the deals negotiated.
I seem to remember that Gaston Mazzacane who drove for Prost Grand Prix in 2001, was a ‘pay driver’ with money coming in from PSN(?).
He was replaced after four grand prix by Luciano Burti, and ‘performance clauses’ were stated as the reason. Gaston had failed qualify within 0.5 seconds of Jean Alesi (the other Prost Driver), in any of the four grand prix’s he competed in and that was the only performance clause in his contract.
Don’t ask me why I have remember this, but I think it was reported by a certain Joe Saward in F1 Racing Magazine!
Kris
No I doubt it.
Hi Joe,
I do too now I’m thinking about it!… I didnt read F1 Racing magazine then Lol, I was an avid F1 News reader
Now its only Grand Prix +
Kris
Hi Joe, that’s one of the most informative and useful F1 articles I’ve read in a long long time. Certainly a lot more sensible and considered than most of the silly season gumph I’ve been finding on the internet this last few weeks. Thanks for that
Plus 1 – great info thanks Joe – shame about Bruno – let’s hope he gets a drive at Lotus
I’d much rather see Bruno at Sauber (though I’m not sure how great his chances are there), and besides, he’s already driven for Lotus (last season, when they were LRGP). Boullier at that time was already grooming that seat for Grosjean, who he manages, and they’d given up entirely on developing the car by the time he stepped in it, so I doubt he’s got very fond memories of driving for that team…
Joe,
Great insight as always. I really enjoy the way you provide analysis of the practical aspects of the sport as well as the competitive. One slightly sideways question though – there was much talk of DiResta replacing Lewis at McLaren. Were the pundits wide of the mark or did it come down to sponsor contributions?
It came down to Paul being British.
Do you think that DiResta being managed by the same management group as Button influenced that decision? And, do you think Perez Telmex-connection have eased his way into McLaren?
Great article, thanks a lot!
Yes and no.
Joe – do you think DiResta’s split with Anthony Hamilton might have been influenced by missing out / mishandling the McLaren negotiations?
No
I suspect Paul sharing a management team with Jenson didn’t help his chances with McLaren.
I’ve probably missed something obvious but I don’t understand that answer.
Thanks for the article, Joe and sharing your knowledge.
That’s sad to hear but I suppose inevitable in the current climate where a team must maximise their sponsorship potential. But why not Hulkenberg? Or was the appeal of access to the latin american fanbase a bigger pull over another european?
Perez will be good for he American market especially Texas which has large population of Mexican descent and of course which shares a border with Mexico.
heh? they didn’t pick him because he was british?
Pretty much, I believe there was a comment on one of the sky broadcasts to the effect of sponsors didn’t want a totally british driver line up this time around.
The words I heard were more to the effect of “we’ve gone with the British thing as far as we can now”. They want to cast a wider net for sponsorship. A lot of blank space on the Maccas’ these days.
Nothing to do with Perez and DiResta’s driving skills? What is your opinion Joe? Who’s a better driver?
The better driver is the one who scores the most points.
Or having the same manager as Button, which would give that management too much power.
Charles Pic may have done good job for Marussia but Glock probably made himself worth his salary by being there to grab the 12th place in Singapore moving the team to 10th. That may be worth those extra $17.6 mil for the team… (would Marussia be eligible for the extra funds right away after the first year of finishing in top 10 or do they first have to at least repeat the same in 2013 ?)
I hate the way the rankings are decided outside the points. If you think about it, it’s basically The Bernard’s ridiculous “medal” system.
Wow. Awesome article. Thanks for the interesting info Joe
Thank you Joe for the fact-based analysis of the drivers market. As fans we think we know about this stuff but it’s humbling (and enjoyable) to hear the real story.
As it relates to Sauber and Kobayshi, I was fascinated by the post-race comments of Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn, that I read in an interview on Yahoo’s UK Eurosport web site. Here’s an excerpt:
“Kaltenborn said she hoped that positives did come out of Kobayashi’s podium though that could boost his chances of staying there.
‘I think it is important for him to show this kind of result for his own standing and his own career, because if you look at the facts, he has had a tough season.
‘You have to be careful in judging him as a driver because, if you look at most of the podiums we had, he had the better qualifying [at those races].
‘Through that, he has certain restraints on the tyres, on the strategy, and with the other car you can simply take a risk: and the risk worked out and paid off.’”
I found this amazing. I interpret her comment about “…this kind of result for his own standing and his own career…” as that they’ve decided to look elsewhere for 2013 drivers so hopefully the 3rd at Suzuka will help Kobayashi (who they obviously like, personally) catch on with another team.
But then she goes on to essentially admit that where Kobayashi out-qualified Perez, as he did in both Canada and Italy, Perez was flattered by an alternative race strategy to score thirds in both races. (Perez did out-qualify Kobayashi in Malaysia).
So it seems, Joe, that Kobayashi was worth the salary as you note, but that that calculus has its limits and even Sauber is chagrined by seeing Perez and not Kobayashi plucked away by a grandee team.
I’m pretty sure that a Japanese manufacturer will be back in F1 before too long. Had Fukashima not happened, I am almost positive that there would be at least 1 of the big 4 Japanese manufacturers dipping their toe in the water with sights on 2014. The wishy-washy stance on the engine regs is another problem for a society that values moderation and “sure bets” business-wise. I believe that Toyota or Honda will at least have engines to barter with (and/or badge cars and send sponsorship dollars) to teams in order to keep the only real Japanese driving talent with a super license. I like his personality too, and think motor racing needs to encourage diversity if it ever wants to turn on the youth in the world to the sport. Looking at a bunch of rigid anglo-men who flaunt the frivolity and gluttonous practices of motor racing while ignoring marketing opportunities pertaining to the connectedness and especially the astounding efficiency of the racing machines may have worked last generation but it turns off much of the current one. I hope (for my sake and yours, and) for formula 1′s sake Kaumi keeps his drive (mistakes and all), he is a breath of fresh air, and Japan’s last link to F1 (even though is effectively European at this point) .
Well done Joe, thanks for breaking this down. This article give tremendous insight into why teams choose the drivers that they do. Sad as it may be, pay-drivers are a reality in the sport and unless the manufacturers come back en masse or the costs are reduced drastically, this trend will clearly continue.
any new sponsors for Lotus??? Gerard Lopez said they are lacking 1 more medium scale sponsors to break even!!
That could be the next move for Pastor then? Unlike Grosjean, he will at least cover the cost of his damage.
Unique information Joe. That’s a very interesting perspective on some of the concealed machinations of the F1 business. I don’t see this sort of stuff any where else.
Hi Joe, fantastic article! Thanks for the insight into what affects the decision making process the most regarding drivers.
By the way have you seen the ‘what will Kimi do next’ website? It looks official and seems way over the top for announcing a contract extension at Lotus. Any rumours about him leaving Lotus or even the sport again? Or is this just an attention grabbing ploy?
D
Joe, what’s your view on Kimi’s minisite whatwillkimidonext.com ? It seems like an odd move, have he and lotus simply come up with a marketing tool to generate interest where this is no story, or could he really be on the move? I have a feeling he may be moving to Red Bull in place of Mark.
It is a non-event. Komi has no sensible choices.
Four syllables too long. Still love him to bits though!
A WhoIs lookup yields the following:
Domain name: WHATWILLKIMIDONEXT.COM
Registrant Contact:
Pulp Active Oy
Kari Haapalainen
Porkkalankatu 11
Helsinki, 00180
FI
That doesn’t sound like Lotus to me.
Williams was ninth last year. Sauber were (IIRC) 7th.
Joe, as a Dutchman I would also be interested if Robin Frijns is a name to keep in mind, I do not know what kind of budget he brings but as he is in a good posistion to win the WSR champrionship in his first year (we will know more in 2 weeks) is there some real interest within F1 for him?
I have seen an interview with Huub Rotherngatther which stated that for what a driver lacks in talent he needs to make up in budget so that really connects with you story!
Again, great insight Joe, thanks.
I’m quite curious about the cash flow situation at Lotus – and Force India.
Lotus has posted huge losses in 2010 and 2011. The sponsorship from Group Lotus has dried up, but from what I understand Proton waived quite a bit of debt as compensation, so 2012 might look better – and will make them able to loan more money. With Genii as the main sponsor – at least on the car, Lopez is essentially funding a considerable part of the operation from his own pocket – although one must assume this is of value for Genii’s business. I do, however, doubt that this is the long term plan for Lopez/Genii. BTW, shouldn’t Grojean be considered a pay driver as well? He comes with Total-sponsorship – and possibly Renault discounts? In this view, all his incidents could be very costly for the team.
As for Force India, much has been written about the problems for Mallya and Sahara. But when the team is funded with money from these men and their companies – and with Mallya virtually boke and Sahara has its assets frozen, how do they pay their bills? Apparently the drivers haven’t been paid, but what about the staff, the Mercedes engines and the McLaren technology? I read on Autosport or somewhere that FI’s team manager praised their drivers. A cynic might suggest that he was trying to talk their market value – and the value of their contracts with FI up……
If money is tight in these teams I’m hugely impressed what they achieve despite the financial challenges.
Fascinating article! An example of why this is the first website I visit each day. Many thanks Joe.
Thanks Joe; I have never thought of it like this before.
Unless I am mistaken I believe Perez, at Sauber, was a pay driver with sponsorship from Telmex. Will he be a paid driver at Maclaren, or will they expect to get a large chunk of sponsorship for him?
No. He will be a paid driver. As to his time at Sauber, one must define the meaning of pay- driver.
crikey, the figures have changed a lot since i last heard them – maldonado brings $55m a year?!
i believe your figures but it’s shocking to me a company would write a cheque for that amount – even a state/ chavez backed one at that.
with prize money and pay drivers like that you can imagine teams not needing conventional sponsorship at all and that’s my point – pay drivers do the work for the team, saving on the time, stress and expense of finding sponsors themselves, and that’s why i can see this practice increasing.
Not a company entirely, but Hugo Chavez has major influence, if not control of a lot of the country’s industries, or at least of the people who run them.
Williams will breath a sigh of relief that Chavez has just been re-elected to the surprise of many. The opposition would have stopped his involvement in what they see as his vanity projects.
Terrific article Joe – thanks. I don’t know anywhere else that we can find out about this detail.
I’ve been wondering about the worth of developmental skills in drivers, and who you would rate as best, and worst etc. Surely with so little testing available now the talents of a driver who can help work out the best setups is even more important, unless that can be done effectively on the simulator. Are the simulators that good? Seems they are some way from being perfect if McLaren keep getting setup issues wrong.
Do the test drivers bring money or are they paid?
Thanks again for a great read.
Most pay. Some get paid.
Clear Karthikeyan is there for his talent as a racer and nothing else
Don’t underestimate Narain’s speed.
True. The HRT is easily capable of breaking pit lane speed limits. It is only Narain’s self control that keeps it under those speeds.
Excellent analysis, thanks Joe.
Joe- I read with interest people saying “Hulkenberg to replace Kobayashi” and it’s one that intrigues me. Particularly as Kobayashi has had some rotten luck and is only 16 points behind Perez, and he gets a McLaren drive. Hulkenberg is behind both of them….and Di Resta. Not to mention has finished most races this season. So when you divide points scored per race finished….
I for one hope Kamui continues- he’s an F1 driver with personality, people like him, and he’s an exciting driver. Future WDC, maybe not, but a good solid driver.
Joe, last year Sauber finished 7th in the Constructors Championship, just letting you know. So according to the values you have presented they stand to make a $10.3 million increase in prize money.
Also, do driver standings have any bearing when it comes to prize money?
None at all. And read the story again.
Great article, Joe.
“Sauber will continue to have support from its Mexican sponsors in 2013, and it would be logical to promote Esteban Gutiérrez to take over from the departing Perez…”
Will those sponsors also be supporting McLaren next season and beyond ?
If not, McLaren are taking a big gamble on his ability (jury is still out, from what I can see… actually, I think it will be a while before the jury is presented with the full evidence).
I think McLaren will be looking at other Mexican companies
Hi Joe, first time reading your blog. Very interesting, I’ll definitely be going back to read more and read all your blogs in the future!
Just one thing, In a paragraph you list some drives: ” This is why Sauber had Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham has Heikki Kovalainen, Marussia has Timo Glock and HRT has Pedro de la Rosa ”
I was just wondering, is there any reason why you say Sauber HAD Kamui Kobyaashi, yet that other team teams HAS there drivers? Do you know something we don’t?
No I was tired.
That is a quite fantastic summation of all one could want to know of the driver market, and the finances that circle behind it! Great work there Joe!
What annoys, but does not surprise, me is that they only pay the top 10 teams the equal split of $34m each. This means that HRT and either Marussia or Caterham miss out on this entire lump sum, and for these already struggling teams, it must be a severe blow to not receive these much needed funds.
Why is it that they do not pay the entire top 12 so as to ensure the continuity of all teams, and the progression of the backmarkers into the midfield, where surely we would all like to see them competing?
Thanks Joe, a brilliant post. I have always wondered about the numbers, and if it was worth Williams keeping Maldonado. It seems it certainly is, especially as he has calmed down in the last few races.
I hope Kamui keeps his drive, I noticed that whenever Monisha was asked about his future, she would refer to Kamui’s contribution in developing the car over the winter. I don’t know if this is a good sign or not, but hope it is. I guess assuming that Sauber do give Gutierrez the drive, then they will see that keeping Kamui will give them a weaker driver line up than this year, and they need a stronger lead driver to make up for losing Perez. I don’t know who they would get though, Hulkenberg has been mentioned but surely that would be a sideways move for him, and seems risky to lose driver continuity for someone who may or may not do a better job than Kobayashi.
The sky team were saying over the Suzuka weekend that Petrov has run out of Roubles, if so surely that would be the end of him, Senna being the natural fit to replace him. I would love to see Bottas get the Williams drive to replace Bruno, it would give a bit of credibility back to the team.
Joe, why is it we continually hear of Ferrari having special deals for this, that and the other ? It appears that Ferrari are treated differently to the rest, why is this, if it is a sport and the sport is supposedly an even playing field, at least in terms of points and prize money ?
Because it is a valuable part if the business and it has cleverly exploited that position for 40 years.
Great read, thanks. I will be gutted if we lose Kobayashi from the grid. The irony is that for all those years mediocre Japanese drivers had great financial support. Now , arguably the best Japanese driver ever comes along and the sponsors are nowhere. KK seemed to shine brighter pre DRS when overtaking skills had more value
Another great article Joe, thanks. I too was wondering about Martin Brundle’s comment that Petrov was out of money. Brundle seemed to have it straight from the horse’s mouth. Can you add anything to that?
Petrov does not have money. True. But by March next year he might have. He’s a very well connected young man and sometimes one wants to send out messages to important people.
I suppose they’d like to keep him around for the Russian GP?
This is logical
Thanks Joe, I can only guess at the amount of work and experience it takes to put all this info together – much appreciated!
Fascinating insight into how it REALLY works. Bit surprised that Senna only brings £12m. Can anyone doubt that Rubens would have more than compensated for that in this year’s Williams ?
Senna might only directly bring £12M but I’d hazard a guess that his image is worth a chunk more in promoting the team in Brazil and therefore in interesting sponsors who want to be in that market.
Yes, I know that Rubens is Brazilian too, but one is a dashing 20-something with a stellar name and the other is balding and on the downward slope.
Senna will be adding indirect value that Rubens wouldn’t.
Image does not pay bills. Ask Vijay Mallya’s employees.
Image alone does not, but then Vijay isn’t selling space on his own shirt.
All things being equal, sponsors would rather be associated with the young, handsome driver. Which means they’ll pay more to the team to have their logo on the young handsome driver’s car and overalls.
With Sauber being within shouting distance of Mercedes, made Spa a potentially rather expensive first corner accident.
Again it was disappointing from a Sauber point of view that their pay driver threw it up the road in Suzuka when they could have bitten a huge chunk out of Merc’s lead over them.
Would Caterham risk Senna and Petrov as a line-up for next year? As you say, Petrov has matched Heiki this season.
Why not? What is needed at Caterham is more time to build up infrastructure and teamwork. Better engineering produces better cars. It might more snese to take two pay-drivers and use the money to good effect, in the style of Williams.
In Williams Maldonado has thoroughly beaten Senna in qualis, and Kovalainen has done the same to Petrov in Caterham. Signing two slow drivers doesn’t sound like a good strategy. Also, Caterham lost the WCC P10 in Singapore because their pay-driver had a first corner incident, and the safety car ruined their paid driver’s race strategy. Two paid drivers might have managed to keep Caterham above Marussia in the WCC standings.
So Caterham is already finding out that the paid driver + pay-driver combination might cost them more than keeping two paid drivers. Signing two pay-drivers for next year would leave Caterham practically unarmed against Marussia, who has one paid driver. The pay-drivers may bring good money for Caterham, but is it really worth the money to spend your fourth year in F1 trying to fend of the attacking HRT?
Qualifying does not score points.
Fair point. Even though F1 is a tough world, Bruno seems like a nice chap, would be a shame to lose him.
Thank you so much for another fantastic explanation of how things work in F1 !
Really insightful piece Joe, thanks!
Joe, really interesting article as usual, thank you. I was wondering – perhaps ignorantly – do ‘pay’ drivers not get paid anything by the team? And therefore, do their sponsors pay their race expenses, and more importantly their ‘salary’ etc.? Or, are they just generally very rich people with and endless supply of their own money? I’m interested because they have to eat, pay for bills and suchlike outside of travelling with F1, and if their ‘employers’ don’t pay them, who does?
Surely Maldonado despite his crashes has shown so much speed to potentialy score alot more points than he has, or any teamate could (hes often a frontrunner on merit) that Williams or anyone else would be mad to drop him money or not? Im aware Bottas seems to be rated highly but Maldonados pace has been stunning, surely combined with 2 years experience he could be a huge asset to Williams?
Great article and insight, keep them coming!
Thanks Joe – one of the most informative article on F1. A bit surprise Caterham is considered a midfield team in your article. Keep up the good work though.
If you look at the budgets it is a midfield team. It is not quite there on the race track but financially it is.
Really well-written and informative article – I think the clearest I’ve ever read on the prize money. Thank you.
Nice article Joe. Quick question do you think that any of the team sign Robin Frijns as a reserve and test or maybe even as a race driver because hopefully he will win WSR 3.5 at the finale race weekend and there have been rumours that he is talks with Sauber and Williams.
It is too early to say.
You made my head spin with the variations as to how the prize money is divyed up, but the concept of turning down a pay driver with anything in excess of $10 million dollars vs. paying a driver who can POTENTIALLY generate points seems like a no-brainer. Why? Because there are no guarantees said driver/car will increase your points take to offset the sponsorship loss.
If they are desperate for cash, take what’s on the table and MAYBE still rise in the finishing order to collect more cash.
Informative article once again, thanks.
Is Adrian Sutil considered damaged goods, or just out of money? He had Medion support, but lost that. Would anyone take him back? And, previously, Putin had expressed support for Petrov. Seems hard to imagine that there is no longer enough money to keep the Russian in a high profile drive.
Fantastic and insightful article! Thanks.
Joe, the article has Sauber finishing 9th in last years constructor’s, but they finished 7th.
“This is why Sauber had Kamui Kobayashi”
Freudian slip?
Has is better
Is the $60m paid to the 11th/12th placed teams outside of the $700m total prize fund?
Thanks for this information, it will make looking at the back half of the constructor’s table more interesting with some “real” figures.
I believe that it is.
Great article Joe
Presumably then Glocks 12th place in Singapore is potentially the saviour of Murussia being worth $34m?!
Assuming they hold that position, will this likely affect Caterhams plans on the driver front being that they could be facing a similar budget shortfall?
It is not that much because teams must be in the top 10 for two of the past three years to qualify for the Column One money.
This is excellent work Joe, the business of F1 is just as interesting (more?) than the actual racing. How about a breakdown of how the tracks/promoters make their money?
That’s easy. They don’t.
Perez = future Mexican GP if you ask me?
Reckon Uncle Bernie made sure he was in a quality team asap and McLaren were only to happy to oblige – suited them both! He’s fast, dynamic, likable to all including 100mil + Latinos across Nth & Sth America, and now that he has a reliable competitive car the sponsors will be fighting to get to him and Burnie can pitch for a race between the US & Brazil – too easy!
I wouldn’t say max chilton has excelled himself in gp2, good but certainly not in razias or valsechhis league or even the lotus drivers. He will be in F1 because of money not talent
Great article, Joe.
As one of Japanese F1 fans, I really appreciate you mentioned about Kamui. It would be very sad if he lose the seat of 2013, but I personally think that would happen unless Ferrari gives him. More and more rich drivers coming up from GP2 or somewhere else, so, I understand it is getting tough to keep an F1 seat without financial support in recent F1. We will see…
Great work Joe – much appreciated. How many hours did you put into writing this piece?
One or two
Great article, very interesting.
Two points though – Glock has signed contract until 2013, and rumours are circulating about Petrov having run out of money and will leave Caterham this season. They (Caterham) would be silly to drop KOV, he’s a great driver and has done a lot for the the team.
I love your innocent belief that an F1 contract is binding. These things get paid off all the time. As for Kovalainen, I don’t agree. I think he should have swallowed Petrov whole and spat out the bits. He has not done that.
Joe, the figures you used re prize money, are presumably from the past. How much do you reckon the 2013 or new individual, divided and ruled CAs will alter from the current? (In monetary terms, we know that Bernie dodged the FIA payment increase and the teams were standing just behind him and forgot to duck, so that points won increase the entry fee substantially, or has that not been settled? It says TBA in the sporting regs, but must be paid in 22 days time)
The figures are from 2011. That is the best we can do at the moment.
Having read your previous blog posts on the subject, the one thing that jumps out at me is that the sport’s revenue has increased form $1Bn to $1.4Bn in just two or three years. No wonder promoters can’t afford to keep races and fans can’t afford to attend!
I think I learned more about F1 driver choices/management in reading this blog post than I have learned in reading all of the other blog posts from all of the other sites for the entire year. Great information and insight. Thanks for enduring the trolls and continuing to publish here.
Great article! Have you considered to put a “DONATE” button on your site yet. I would be more than happy to pay you a coffee for that article…!
I often wonder about ferrari’s percentage on the top , supposedly to keep them in F1
it seems to me that the value of F1 to them is at least equal to their value to F1 , and if they lost their bonus they would stay anyway
would you agree with that joe ?
That is a negotiation.
Joe,Very interesting article, thanks very much, I presume that Mr Hamilton has won Mclaren millions in prize money in his first stint, as i tip him to return one day, but am i right in saying that McLaren can afford to let him go if they can finish 2nd or even 3rd in the champioships ?