Hypothetical (what would you do?)

The "Friesacher Sacked" thread Made me start to wonder...

Let's assume that, for the sake of this discussion, you were given a sum of money (several million, but I don't want to be too specific) which could be used for only one of two things:

1) Buy a Schumacher driven, championship-winning Scuderia Ferrari retired Formula One racecar, and as much track time as you care to drive it. The car is yours lock, stock, barrell, and all the factory support that will keep it running for you.

or

2) Buy yourself a seat in three (3) Formula One Grands Prix, driving for Minardi. (You pick the races, but only three of them.)





Give me Numero Dos.

What would you do?

 

Buy the drive. Make the races the USGP, Monaco, and ?

Write a book afterwards, and capitalize on being the "First US F1 driver since <whomever>"

At least my name would be in the recordbooks -- and I might score points at Indy

 

Option one. Because it's a Ferrari!

And I like the Corse Clienti atmosphere. I would hate Planet Paddock from what I see and read about it.

 

#2 all the way. Only a handful of people can claim to have started a GP. Whether you paid for it or not if you are on that starting grid you are part of an exceptionally rare group of guys.

'There is no room for explanation on a score card'.

To add to this, even if I was not limited to choice 1 or 2 and had the money, I would buy the F1 ride. I have my whole life to earn the money back but only my youth to take an F1 start. For me it is a no brainer then again my life is nothing else but motor racing.

 

Option 2. It'd be fun to try, even if the odds are massively stacked against you.

 

The important part to remember is that pay drivers do not belong in F1. Only drivers who have merit should be selected to race in F1. Money should never be a substitute for merit.

I would pick the option of driving a Ferrari F1 car. I would never ever touch any other F1 car other than a Ferrari let a lone a Minardi. As bigodino stated: The Corse Clienti program is simply amazing and would be a much better option than being stuck in a Minardi for 3 whole nightmare races!

Being at Fiorano with the guys from the factory or having to deal with the barking dog Stoddart? (Not a choice)

 

Without wanting to start anything, I think that this statement (while valid) is entirely unrealistic in the real world. Getting to F1 a package of skill, personal managment, and money. It is almost impossible to enter without an abundance of these three elements. Let's not forget that even Michael Schumacher had to bring cash for his first F1 ride. In fact the only 3 drivers that I can think of in the longest time that have not paid for their F1 birth have been:

Montoya (CART champion and Indy 500 winner)
Villeneuve (same as above plus the huge commercial lure of the name)
DaMatta (CART Champion whose entry was helped by the fact that Toyota supplied his championship effort in CART)

Life is not fair and that is why you see the bosses nephew get a promotion, teenage girls get new BMW's when they turn 16 and pay F1 drivers. I admire anyone who drives a contemporary GP car because they have somehow managed to achive what some other really well funded, managed, and talanted drivers were unable to do.

 

I would go for #2. There's nothing like a real race.... even in a Minardi I guess.

For those with deep pockets there was a similar arrangement sort of already in place for test sessions.... earlier in the year Minardi "hired" a 39+ y/o "test" driver with no relevant experience who obviously was paying to do some laps at test sessions.

 

I tend to agree with you on the competition/sport face of F1, but it's no secret that the the top racing series are just as much a sport as they are a business. But even when F1 was not so much a business, pay/wealthy drivers of several decades ago would fund their own racing careers.... like Alfonso de Portago and other blue blood drivers.

 

Ditto that.

We (armchair racers) might laugh about the back markers etc, but fact is that they all did something we haven't and which no clienti corsi program can offer you: Participation in a real GP.

I actually had the good fortune to drive a F1 and aside from it having been a blast I have to say that the more mortals of us are so outgunned by these cars, that it doesn't matter that much which one you're driving because you're simply not reaching the level of sophistication where it makes a big difference carwise.

 

option #2 of course Paul S. would have to spend the millions to widen the tub so my fat butt would fit into it

 

Sigh... some guys just don't get it.


Every driver pays to drive in some form or another. Acquisition of sponsorship is a very, very hard game. Why do you all think there isn't any American drivers in F1? Because there isn't any one who can do the job? No. Because no one is/has been willing to pony up the cash. To me there's no difference if you come to a team with X-amount of sponsorship or X-amount of personal cash you're still contributing to the team. Any driver starting in F1 is bringing cash to the table... even MS did this when he started out. Even if there isn't any cash involved there is a good deal amount of horse-trading going on in other fashions. Exchange of goods and services is what it's all about. Anyone who draws a line trying to make it out to be black and white and not shades of grey is living in a dream world.

I suggest you try to find Guy Edwards "Sponsorship" and give it a read. Excellent book. Limited print run though. It'll be tough to find one. And I have no idea what it'll cost you. I paid $150 new back in 1992 (I think that was the year). I'd guess it'd cost you a bit more than that now. If your lucky you might be able to find it at a library.


I think I'd take number 2.

 

I'd say you're both right: Yes, every driver buys his way into F1, that's just how they get started.

However this hypothetical question here is really targeted at unworthy armchair racers like us who don't deserve to be there. Basically where the current Minardi "test driver" is today.

FIA would probably prevent such a deal anyway, because you still need a superlicense and you don't get that for being an armchair racer. Remember how hard it was for a super talent like Kimi to even be allowed in F1?

 

Great point Andreas. I wonder how much it takes to bribe Max for a superlicense???

 

He'll do it if you wipe some of his family records...

 

There is a difference between sponsorship and paying for your drive.
Michael Schumacher was sponsored
Kimi is still sponsored
Alonso is also still sponsored

Compare this to
Zolst Baumgartner who took $X Million from his family and bough a race seat.

I am not talking about sponsorship. FarmerDave is suggesting buying a race seat with several million dollars that are yours. Money should never be a substitue for merit. When a company sponsors a driver they see MERIT.

Honda see MERIT in SATO! (I do not, but that is different)

When you ask your rich dad to shell out X million dollars that is not merit!

See this is not a choice for me. I am loyal to Scuderia Ferrari and would never drive any other F1 car.

So if you ask me to either drive a Ferrari F1 car again or to race a Minardi for the first time. My choice is plain and simple. My loyalty to Scuderia Ferrari ranks above anything else.

If someone decides to "race" for Minardi:
1) They will have to deal with Paul Stoddart. One of the worse things to happen to F1.
2) No chance of actually competing besides your team mate.
3) Lack of any respect from race fans or drivers. All of them just beging you to get out of the way.

 

Honda backs Sato because he is the fastest Japaniese driver. It gives Japan and Honda Employees pride.

Sponsoring Sato may not make a whole lot of sense to you and i yet it brings a large corporation and a country a true sense of pride. The main reason that Honda competes in F1 is a way for there engineers to think in different ways than the conventional way. One thing Honda does is they will rotate engineers in and out of the race development dept. to keep the engineers from feeling that they are in a rut doing the same thing all of the time.

Look at US auto companies, they put there support into NECKCAR and buy supporting a "American Series" it sells cars in the US market. If GM or Dodge went F1 racing it would not help US car sales since it is not a spotlight series in the US. GM is starting to race in the British touring car championship in an effort to boost sales in Europe of "Daewoo's"

 

I completely agree. Sato is Honda's poster boy to sell more T-shirts, caps and cars in Japan. Nothing else!

I used the example of Sato to distinguish Sponsorship from paying out of the family funds.

Honda see Merit in Sato so they sponsor him. That merit maybe be just financial, marketing, PR and employee motivation. I disagree with Honda's choice but that is their opinion and their money!

What FarmerDave is suggesting is "buying" your own race seat. Where is the dignity in driving around not being able to compete. Why not select to drive a F1 car from a company that seemingly we all respect and are so proud of. To me there is no choice.

Forza Ferrari

 

Whoa! Share the details man! What, where, when, how ??? You lucky devil you!

 

I think Sato had to pay for his ride at Jordan. Even If a driver came up to Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Renault with lets say $50 million i doubt that they would jump at the deal as they would want to be confident that they could be competitive.

 

Option 2.

Option 1 is not even a serious option worth considering ... just playing at being in F1.

Anybody that races any OLD race car and thinks they are a REAL racing driver is a fool. Any race wins in classic or historic racing, or any lap records DO NOT MATTER. The car has done it's time and no longer matters.

Thus ALL classic and historic racing is just for FUN and should be treated that way.

If you want to be a racing driver you HAVE to race in a current series ... and an old F1 car, even 1 year old ... is just playing at it.

Pete

 

Neither. I would buy a coupe of 50s Ferraris and maybe some "etceterinis" for my garage.

 

This isn't a "what would you do with millions of dollars" thread. You may only pick one of the two options.

Is it too late to start a poll? I don't know how to do it after the fact.

I'd like the only option on the poll to be:

Option 1
Option 2

Andreas, can you do that for me?

 

Neither option 1 or 2 really appeal to me...however if you substituted a 333SP for the F1 car.....

 

Exactly! And that's why I'd choose option 1. I'm all for fun
Plus: it's a Ferrari! (or did I log in on Minardi-Chat.com?