McLaren fails to get sponsor for 2018

Correct. They don't have a title sponsor but according to Zak they have signed some sponsors/partners but he does'nt know when he is going to announce them as they are not done yet and all sponsors are welcome plus he wants to remain team Mclaren and not "ABC" Mclaren. Also, you can rule out Mclaren attending the 2018 Indy 500.

 

And what? No one can get major sponsors these days unless they have unicorn deals or they have the mothership writing checks for them. RBR, Ferrari, and MB are the only ones that have unicorns and motherships. Honda itself had no major sponsor, neither did Toyota. McLaren has been without a title sponsor for a long time. Williams have Martini, but Martini only pay $15MM/yr to Williams for almost the whole car.

Perhaps ZB was a bit overenthusiastic in his projections, but he inherited a listing ship...MOST teams in F1 these days are listing ships. McLaren want to have a shot at winning, so they dropped the major component keeping them from doing so. It was the right thing to do.

 

The sport is just not in good enough shape. The hybrid nonsense didn't draw any new viewers and the state of excitement is NIL.

Ironically cigarettes and booze would probably be the most suitable sponsors.

 

Cigarettes and Booze is my middle name . . . .

 

I honestly want to know this...

If a lot of loyal fans have given up on F1, but race attendance is up...how is this reconciled? Are new fans attending races? Are old fans coming back?

And...has Liberty (or anybody) released worldwide viewership estimates? Where are you getting your “no new viewers” data?

Again...not picking on your post or trying to be contrarian, but the ‘data’ is conflicting or vague and I’m genuinely curious how it really stacks up. Not many things in this world can claim increased viewership. The pool is vast these days.

 

JGonzalez I think posted viewing totals for the season in terms of track attendance

 

Race attendance is largely irrelevant. Not *that* hard to get most races filled as it's an actual occasion. A much more accurate gauge is TV viewers.

 

Whilst the tobacco companies might have the sort of money required for major F1 sponsorship, the ban on tobacco advertising anywhere in F1 makes it a complete non-starter for any of the big tobacco companies.

(Philip Morris tobacco's deal with Ferrari is a somewhat bizarre exception! They get zero coverage in any way, shape or form [Ferrari dropped the last direct link to "Marlboro" in 2011 when the cigarette companies name was dropped from the official team name], very few people even link Marlboro with Ferrari any more [with the exception of a few die-hard fans, and sponsors who have to pay Philip Morris Tobacco to get their names on the car], and yet they still buy the whole car's body surfaces, to sell on to other sponsors! Frankly, I'd be amazed if they make any real money from doing that, and from a purely business point of view, the whole deal makes little sense!)

It was pointed out recently that Ferrari had lost Santander, but they didn't really, did they?

Ferrari will still get the exact same amount of money from Philip Morris Tobacco for the advertising on the car, with Santander or without them, it's Philip Morris Tobacco who will no longer get money from Santander, so the reality is, Philip Morris Tobacco lost Santander.


As for McLaren:

Just because McLaren have split from Honda doesn't mean that big sponsors are going to come flooding back to the Woking team immediately (much as I'm sure McLaren would love them to!).

They're going to have to prove themselves to prospective sponsors that they are back in contention for podiums, race wins, Championships and future glory. The Renault power-unit was an okay bit of kit, but it still had some issues, and it wasn't good enough to make McLaren's prospective sponsors want to instantly throw Millions into the team. The guys at McLaren are smart enough to realise that they have a bit of rebuilding to do, to give prospective sponsors the confidence that, if they do put their money into McLaren, it won't be wasted on a car that does two laps and gets parked up, or, is seen at most races parked at the side of the track smoking away.

"No title sponsor for McLaren in 2018"? - No surprise here!

But if McLaren are competitive from race one of the 2018 season, I don't think it will be too many races before someone becomes their title sponsor in 2018, and probably for a bargain price!

 

What if the Honda suddenly becomes competitive?

 

LOL, this would be the ultimate slap wouldn't it. I have to imagine that Honda is reenergized to want to save face and really stick it to Mac. I like Mclaren so I hope it's not true but I wouldn't be shocked if it happens lol.

 

Their engine has been wholly unreliable, lacking power and thirsty. I don't see it.

And 'competitive' is a benchmark that keeps moving since Merc and Ferrari keep finding more than decent gains. At this point for Honda an accomplishment would be having an engine that can run a couple races and for the gap to not widen.

 

I don’t believe race attendance is irrelevant, but I do agree that overall viewership tells a better story...which is why I asked if that information had been released.

US viewership seems to be on the rise...interestingly, a (mostly) steady increase beginning in 2014.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/480129/cable-or-broadcast-tv-networks-formula-one-f1-racing-watched-within-the-last-12-months-usa/

The claim was made that viewership is down...I would like to see some data to support that.

 

Why are you acting like McLaren is in rough shape financially? Its nonsense

 

McLaren always knew this was a possible outcome. They will have factored this in. It’s not an existential crisis!

 

There's no point to more $$ and free engines if you're at the back of the grid. Their road car business and shareholders (who have pretty deep pockets) can support the race team during the transition year so that development throughput doesn't suffer. With another year like the past three they would have started losing key staff and then it would have become hole too deep to get out of.

 

Because Honda admitted after the first season that McLaren didn't ask them to do 'size zero.' Worse yet, they're currently using the Merc architecture but still missing 90hp. Most of the missing power is from not understanding the combustion concept necessary to make the kind of power Merc and Ferrari are making.

Having better chassis/PU integration is a benefit, but it doesn't make up for a 90hp disadvantage or grid penalties every race. RB don't have works relationship but they're still at least winning races.

Ultimately Honda doesn't have the powertrain expertise to compete in F1. It was the case with even with relatively simple V8's, and the current regs are putting their shortcomings on full display.

 

If you're not a factory team or factory-backed, you're nothing anymore in F1. McLaren hasn't been anything since MB dropped them and Williams the same with BMW. This series is only made for factory teams to win just like with LeMans. McLaren won't be winning a WDC/WCC anytime soon nor will anyone else other than the big boys.

 

The financial aspect of this is even bigger than the technical.

 

They could be the next Williams

 

Is the Mclaren road car really that profitable to finance the F1 program?

 

Exactly