Force India can be transformed in Brabham

Sponsored by viagra? And what about Ron Dennis? Remember Bernie saying recently Ron would be the guy he'd choose to run his team.

 

China is Ferrari´s 3rd biggest market. I suppose that for McLaren will be the same or similar.

 

Thanks you are making my point: US is #1 market for Ferrari

 

China is the biggest market now, I think.

Some car manufacturers aren't even on the US market.
Renault? Peugeot? Citroen? I venture Skoda, SEAT perhaps?

Anyway F1 isn't about the size of the car market, but about the audience, and I am led to believe that it's so very popular in the States.
Also, there are no regular F1 drivers in the US, and there was no team until HAAS came in.

So why should a US GP be a priority? Because Liberty is American?

 

But what has that to do with F1, I wonder.

Bernie had always problems with US circuits owners because they didn't want to commit themselves long term.
I can understand that because F1 isn't very popular here, and most of the drivers are unknown compared to Indy or NASCAR drivers.

A series tends to go where there is popular support and hopefully already well-know stars.

Dorna, the MotoGP organisers have 4 ( yes four) races in Spain, because there is a huge audience there, so track owners have no problem making money, and and there are plenty of Spanish riders!! A quick look at a programme shows you that between MotoGP, MotoGP2 and MoyoGP3, between 1/3 and 1/4 of the riders are Spaniards.

Compared to that, what's the chance to make a US GP profitable?
I understand that COTA was making not money and relied on state help.
So Bernie was right, IMO.

 

What has that to do with F1?

Most Ferrari owners are not interested in F1.

 

The fact that US is so large with significant motorsport interest but relatively low viewership means it's a market with massive potential. If Liberty can crack the US, F1 becomes much more lucrative for sponsors and then everyone wins. It's important for all stakeholders.

You're right that a large component of making it work is having a talented American driver, like what Alonso did for F1 in Spain.

China is important too but that's probably a much harder one.

PS: Renault is Renault-Nissan

 

How F1 with 1 or maybe 2 US GP every year could be a better proposition than home grown series like Indycar or NASCAR with a full calendar for US sponsors, I am at loss to understand.

 

Um no.

The home of f-1 in the USA Watkins Glen did everything it could to keep F1 but Bernie and Chris Pooke did them in . The glen extended the circuit in 71 and it was the debt service on those bonds and the increased race fees to Foca that killed the race ... and the draw of California.... only for that race to get out priced too. Detroit was a great race but it too was out priced ... the USA could attract 100k fans to the glen but not to other city races and also keep revenue up for set up and the foca fees


F1 has always been popular in the USA but not enough to fund races to bernies demands

 

Sorry William, Bernie is an @rsehole and F1 would be in a far better place if he had never been involved. The things he did would have happened anyway as it was part of the coming of age of television and modern attitudes to safety.

Everything, and I mean everything (even Brabham) was done to make him a profit, nothing more ...

Pete

 

True, although technically speaking, their biggest market is Western Europe, and the US is tied with Japan.

Anyway, everybody knows that Americans don´t care about F1.

 

Well, you said it !!!

 

You could say that about soccer too yet it is growing.

But the real point is win on Sunday sell on Monday. F1 is all about marketing and media exposure. And the US is the place to sell the cars

 

But what cars?

The audience at GPs doesn't associate F1 with street cars.

You are more likely to sell more cans of Red Bull after a GP than more cars!!! Or more Martini ...

 

Take a look at some car brochures from Ferrari. They make the F1 connection argument time and again

 

Haha why not,and as a 'follow up' to Viagra bring back The London Rubber Company (AKA DUREX) as sponsor's too!

British Grand Prix 1976: How a condom manufacturer forced F1 off TV - BBC Sport

Includes some info on 1976 and pics of Hunt,Lauda etc.

Wonder if BBC etc would object and refuse to televise in this day and age?

 

You are too focused on Ferrari; there are 9 other teams, and they don't all have cars to advertise.
In fact, I think that the average Renault, Honda or Mercedes buyer has no interest in F1 whatsoever. I may be different for a McLaren buyer.

Porsche and Lamborghini don't participate in F1 and they do sell cars.

 

F1 = Ferrari

 

Not at all.

This is just a myth.

 

I don't think this comment is appropriate for F1. For saloon car racing yes. Note NASCAR racing is apparently about ute sales, not cars ... go figure.

I've said this before and I know it is true for Honda, but manufacturers race in F1 to train their engineers and develop high tech solutions/thinking. Marketing, I believe anyway, is a way down secondary function. Ferrari race in F1 for traditional reasons. In a way it has become an albatross as they have to stick at it no matter how terrible the rules are. Will be interesting to see if they are still involved in say 20 years time.
Pete

 

You are right. The "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" slogan is not appropriate when the product is so different from the race car.

For example Mercedes, BMW and AUDI insist that their participation in the DTM championship is very important for their home market, because the public can, more or less, identify with the cars.

It must be the same in the States with NASCAR, and at one time all the US car makers raced in stock car to showcase their cars: Plymouth, Dodge, Mercury, Ford, Chevrolet, Buick, etc...

This is also why Toyota felt obliged to enter NASCAR, IMO, although technically it was going backwards for them.

That also explain the success of the GT categories (GTE, GT3 and GT4) where many different makes participate with clearly identifiable products.

But I doubt very much if F1 results, just like Indycar, have any impact in car sales. These single seater categories have become so distanced from street cars, that no meaningful comparison can be applied.

 

Interesting thought.

I sometimes wonder why Ferrari decided to throw itself exclusively in F1, when sports car and endurance racing was where it built its reputation.

It's apparently Luca de Montezemolo who decided to can the endurance programme in the early 1970s, to concentrate in F1. Ferrari had up to that point been very successful in endurance, where it dominated very often, and also sold many cars to private teams and amateurs.

It was a decisive moment for the Scuderia to put all its eggs in the same basket, and dedicate all its resources to F1. Endurance racing was prestigious at that time, and there were epic track duels between Ferrari and Mercedes, Ferrari and Jaguar, Ferrari and Ford and finally Ferrari and Porsche. Ferrari won many races, several championships, and 9 Le Mans wins. Now, it's only memory ...

It was also very lucrative for Ferrari to recycle all his cars at the end of the season by selling them to clients. You certainly cannot do that with F1s !!!

 

Force India name change to Ecclestone F1?

Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya has announced he is considering changing his Formula One team’s name to “make the outfit more attractive to potential sponsors”.

Mallya said he has been considering a proposal on the table from one (unnamed) sponsor , and his current legal situation had nothing to do with the idea.


Earlier this month there was speculation that the Force India F1 Team was up for sale and rumours have been bouncing around that a US-led consortium looking to revive the Brabham name could be interested in buying Force India with huge questions circling around the F1 world as to whether Bernie Ecclestone was behind the bid started by one of the most experienced veteran journalists in the F1 paddock, Roger Benoit.

These questions remain largely unanswered other than Mallya has denied (via social media) all speculation and stated that the relationship between Eccleston and himself was purely a friendship, but this latest announcement has re-started the speculation.

Either way it all seems a strange time to be making such large choices, one would assume he would have enough to think about. This makes me suspicious. It might be subterfuge to reduce the effects of the recent arrests and allegations against the team brand or it could be even more tactical, only time will tell.

The Silverstone-based team have gone through various guises already, starting out as Jordan in 1991 and then becoming Midland in 2006 and Spyker in 2007 before Mallya took control in 2008.

Mallya who has hit the headlines a few times this week on controversies such as money laundering, fraudulently obtaining credit and other financial crimes denies all allegations. The 61-year-old was arrested by British police in April on behalf of the Indian authorities, who accuse him of fraud.

The court hearing to decide whether fugitive billionaire Vijay Mallya will be extradited back to India has been pushed back to December — and may not even happen till next year.

So on to the name change, speculation is rife that this is a (allegedly) convoluted move to distance any legal action away from the team that he built and views with great personal affection, almost how a father looks at their child. His statements however come from a pure business angle.


“There is a growing feeling that maybe since we are a much-improved team in terms of performance and attracting more international sponsors, and sadly less Indian sponsors, there is a debate as to why the name should not be changed to give it a more international flavour,”

Mallya told motorsport.com.


“There are some people who believe the current name Force India is restrictive psychologically.

“I’m considering along with the other shareholders what steps to take but it’s a major decision and one that is not going to be taken in a hurry without due consideration.”

Force India finished fourth overall last season, a position they currently occupy after seven races and are very much fighting to improve on.

The latest livery of Force India is proof that performance CAN outweigh looks!

https://thejudge13.com/2017/06/14/force-india-name-change-to-ecclestone-f1/

 

It is Luca Di Montezemolo and Niki Lauda who suggested abandoning the endurance programme during December 1973 to Enzo Ferrari. Mauro Forghieri had already designed a specific evolution of the 312PB for the 1974 season; if my memory, etc...the car had already made a few laps at Fiorano, but was stopped right away. At the time, the main rival was Matra, which was left alone to win the 1974 endurance championship.

Rgds