How long do you think the likes of Lopez and Branson are going to hang around as they bounce around at the back of the grid ?
Branson has been blinded by Brawn telling him it was all down to Ross, seemingly forgetting to mention the billions of dollars Honda invested in the company for all those years. So when Brawn cleans up and drives around at the front of the field all year long Branson thinks.
"This is a piece of piss, couple of million and i get a team and i can hang out at the front of the grid and meet other business types and sell a few financial packages and a seat to the states or two."
Which is all well and good when you have a Merc in the back of the car. Put an untried and by all accounts thirsty motor at that, and things aren't so rosey. How much will fighting the other back markers for the honour of being dead last damage the Virgin brand or the Skype brand for Lopez.
These people aren't coming in because they have petrol in their veins and a desire to push technology on. As much as the Motor manufacturers were only in it to sell their cars, there was a trickle down of technology to the car on the high street. Improved safety, and better economy can be attributed to motorsport. Manufactures desire to win, and improve their brand imagine, improved the racing because they understood what racing is fundamentally about. A car, and engine and a driver going as fast as they can.
What does Branson know about racing other than he'll be able to sell more flights on his planes.
these people are needed to win races, you need their money. But are we just swapping out one bunch of business fools for another. Enzo whored the Ferrari brand out to anyone that was willing to pay through the noes. Chapman sold the paint job of his car to afford to pay the work force. But they did it to keep racing into next week.
I worry that we're entering a period where teams will appear one year and not the next, as business men get bored of being last and not winning. You can try and buy victory in F1 but you still need to have it in the DNA of the company. With Branson in London, Wirth in the carbon triangle, Llyods in Scotland. Where is the racing DNA. yes Wirth has build the very successful Acura cars in the ALMS series this year. But they were only successful when Audi and Peugeot weren't there.
I don't think this is going to end well for these back of the grid teams.
1. Rubbish teams at the back of the grid have always been there. Let's face it, apart from Williams, McLaren and Ferrari it has always been a revolving door for the other teams. Some stick around and do quite well (Eddie Jordan who did have racing in his blood) but for the every one of them there are a hundred Team El Charros or Fondmetals - were they run with passion and racing in the blood?
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think so either.
2. Branson - hmm, I don't think the guy knows that much about F1, but I also don't think the guy does things without having a pretty good bead on what he needs and how he's going to get it. And a single owner running the show has got to be a whole bunch better than death-by-committees, which I guarantee was what caused the downfall of Toyota.