Formula 1...

[Iwan Kemp]

Just for interest, lap records of all the 2013 race circuits (2013 fastest lap in brackets)

 

Australia Albert Park 1:24.125 Michael Schumacher 2004 (1:29.274 Kimi)

Malaysia Sepang 1:34.223 Juan Pablo Montoya 2004 (1:39.199 Perez)

China Shanghai 1:32.238 Michael Schumacher 2004 (1:36.808 Vettel)

Bahrain 1:30.252 Michael Schumacher 2004 (1:36.961 Vettel)

Spain Circuit de Catalunya 1:21.670 Kimi Räikkönen 2008 (1:26.217 Guiterrez)

Monaco 1:14.439 Michael Schumacher 2004 (1:16.577 Vettel)

Canada Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 1:13.622 Rubens Barrichello 2004 (1:16.182 Webber)

United Kingdom Silverstone 1:30.874 Fernando Alonso 2010 (1:33.468 Webber)

Germany Nürburgring 1:29.468 Michael Schumacher 2004 (1:33.486 Alonso)

Hungary Hungaroring 1:19.071 Michael Schumacher 2004 (1:24.069 Webber)

Belgium Circuit Spa-Francorchamps 1:45.108 Kimi Räikkönen 2004 (1:50.756 Vettel)

Italy Autodromo Nazionale Monza 1:21.046 Rubens Barrichello 2004 (1:25.849 Hamilton)

Singapore Marina Bay Circuit 1:45.599 Kimi Räikkönen 2008 (1:48.574 Vettel)

Japan Suzuka 1:31.540 Kimi Räikkönen 2005 (1:34.587 Webber)

South Korea 1:39.605 Sebastian Vettel 2011 (1:41.380 Vettel)

India Buddh 1:27.249 Sebastian Vettel 2011 (1:27.679 Kimi)

United Arab Emirates Yas Marina 1:40.279 Sebastian Vettel 2009 (1:43.434 Alonso)

United States Circuit of The Americas 1:39.349 Sebastian Vettel 2012 (1:39.856 Vettel)

Brazil Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace 1:11.473 Juan Pablo Montoya 2004 (1:15.436 Webber)

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Coming to cost per second, and again to MotoGP(my first loove wrt motorsport).

Suzuki are returning in 2015.

They released some figures to say that to get their initial new prototype to within 1 second of the competition(Honda, Yamaha) it took $1M per second, but that from 1 second out it would cost roughly $10M per 1/10th of a second.

It would seem the costs start escalating the closer to the front you get. Obviously reliability plays a factor in the cost as you are running much finer tolerances at the sharp end which use more exotic materials, stricter replacement intervals, etc.

 

@Crow, those costs per manufacturer, did they include driver salaries?

Would love to see what these guys earn. Casey Stoner turned down a 20M Euro contract when he chose to retire, the highest salary HRC has ever offered any rider previously.

[Iwan Kemp]

As far as I understand that's included. Published salaries:

 

Drivers:

 

1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari €20m

= Lewis Hamilton Mercedes €20m

3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes €16m

4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing €12m

5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes €11m

6. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing €10m

7. Felipe Massa Ferrari €6m

8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus F1 Team €3m

9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes €1.5m

10. Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team €1m

= Pastor Maldonado Williams €1m

= Nico Hulkenberg Sauber €1m

13. Valtteri Bottas Williams €600,000

14. Jules Bianchi Marussia €500,000

= Adrian Sutil Force India F1 €500,000

16. Paul di Resta Force India F1 €400,000

= Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia Toro Rosso €400,000

= Jean-Eric Vergne Scuderia Toro Rosso €400,000

19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber €200,000

20. Charles Pic Caterham €150,000

= Giedo van der Garde Caterham €150,000

= Max Chilton Marussia €150,000

 

 

What the F1 teams spent on drivers in 2013:

 

1. Mercedes €31m

2. Ferrari €26m

3. Red Bull Racing €22m

4. McLaren-Mercedes €17.5m

5. Lotus F1 team €4m

6. Williams €1.6m

7. Sauber €1.2m

8. Force India €900,000

9. Scuderia Toro Rosso €800,000

10. Marussia €650,000

11. Caterham €300,000

 

Worth noting that a guy like Kimi was on a base salary + bonus per point. He still hasn't seen a cent, but that was the deal on the table. It is rumoured that Vettel is on a similar deal.

 

The whole RBR team, every single individual who works in the factory and team, received a $10k bonus when Vettel / RBR won the championship.

[Iwan Kemp]

Interesting comparison to 2013's spend:

 

In March 2004, F1 Racing magazine estimated Jordan Ford's 2003 operational budget at just $79m, and Minardi Cosworth's at only $46m (by comparison, F1 Racing claimed Ferrari had $418m to spend)

[Iwan Kemp]

A bit more on the commercial side:

 

"Delta 2's revenue comes from fees paid to host and televise F1 races -- and it hit $1.4 billion in 2012. The company had an operating profit of $1.18 billion, and 63 percent of this is shared between the top 10 F1 teams as prize money. Company filings which are due to be released next week show that the payment to the teams rose 8 percent to $751.8 million last year.

 

That is 202-percent higher than in 2007 when the prize money only comprised a percentage of the fees from broadcasters rather than a cut of F1's profits."

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/Popup/2012/10/24-10-12-pg-22b.jpg

 

From a separate, older article:

"Thus, one can calculate that in 2011, the champions, Red Bull Racing, would have picked up nearly $65 million from Column 2, plus $34.5 million from Column 1, giving the team prize money of nearly $100 million. One might work out that the team scored 650 points and thus one might argue that a point is worth around $150,000 and thus a victory is worth nearly $4 million, but the figures are constantly changing.

 

Finishing second is quite an achievement, but when you do the sums, you can work out that McLaren made $88.6 million, so the difference between first and second place was a whopping $11.4 million. Because of its special status, Ferrari actually earned more prize money last year than McLaren, despite finishing behind its longtime rival - the Italians getting $17.5 million, plus $34.5 million plus $43.8 million, giving a total of $95.8 million. The key is that it is all about the final result, rather than about the individual race wins.

 

With fourth place worth $71.5m; fifth $68.1m; sixth $64.7; seventh $57.8; eighth $54.4; ninth $51m and 10th $47.6 milllion, one can work out that jumping from third to first in a year is worth more than $20 million in additional prize money. The leap from third to fourth is $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.

 

Tenth place in the Constructors' right now is dependent on a 12th place. If Narain Karthikeyan was to finish 11th in his HRT this weekend, that would be worth something like $12 million to the team."

Edited January 23, 2014 by The Crow

[Iwan Kemp]

The last one from The Crow's Financial desk:

 

"Austrian energy drink maker Red Bull saw its net profit jump nearly 40 per cent to 311 million euros (406 million dollars) in 2012, the Wirtschaftsblatt newspaper reported Monday.

 

The increase came as Red Bull increased its revenue from 2.06 billion to 2.31 billion euros, the daily said, citing financial statements of the privately held company."

 

This obviously after they spend all that money on Toro Rosso and RBR...

[Johny Bravo]

All this is getting me super excited for the 2014 season. Bring on Australia and lets see if anyone can beat those Bulls.

[Iwan Kemp]

Agreed. And most of the time fans loved those dominant drivers.

Makes the way crowds booed Vettel vary strange.

 

Vettel and Horner have all admitted that the boo'ing has more to do with the finger and the way they handled Silverstone 2010 and Malaysia last year than them dominating. Vettel's statements and comments following Malaysia didn't help either.

 

Vettel seems like a cool guy. That he's utterly focused and determined to the extent that he'll walk over his team mate needed is maybe not nice, but a lot of the greats in the past were the same. In interviews he seems humble and actually quite funny.

 

Vettel's good. No doubt about it. He's even better than Schu when under pressure or having to overtake.

[Iwan Kemp]

Couple more news bombs for F1 2014

 

Lotus F1 has announced today that Gerard Lopez has replaced Eric Boullier as team principal with immediate effect.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/01/major-overhaul-at-lotus-as-lopez-replaces-boullier-as-team-principal/

 

Boullier rumoured to go to McLaren

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112254

[Iwan Kemp]

MP4-29

 

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2014-01-24-at-12.18.58.png

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

INSTANTLY thought of one of these...

 

What were the designers thinking!?

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Fj-K9wWXuQ/TWRo1ehzlHI/AAAAAAAAA_E/XJNtwKseDMk/s1600/northern-elephant-seal.jpeg

[Johny Bravo]

MP4-29

 

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2014-01-24-at-12.18.58.png

Yuckie.

[Cellar]

Yuckie.

 

Double yuckie

[SeaBee]

Which means you haven't seen the Lotus yet... Positively pukeworthy, these noses... The McLaren at least looks like something.

 

Just for the record - I prefer these (or at least McLaren's) to those stepped noses of last two seasons. But I was hoping it would look more like the 80's and early 90's cars when they said "lower noses".

 

The Lotus - from the side.

 

From the top it's a... ehhhrrr.... interesting!

Edited January 24, 2014 by SeaBee

[Cellar]

Well, that Lotus is a clear case of function beating form. With a big frikkin stick. Guess all F1 is that these days.

[SeaBee]

Well that did not take long!

 

 

...cigarette advertising is bound to make a comeback after this!