MERRY CHRISTMAS CARD BERNIE ECCLESTONE STYLE

Deposed Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone could not resist a swipe at Formula 1’s new chief Chase Carey in the Christmas card he sent out to his pals this year, keeping up a tradition of thought-provoking cartoon style cards that he has sent over the years on the occasion of the festive season.

This year’s edition shows Carey under a rain cloud, amid dark clouds, walking a tightrope towards an unwelcoming, pistol-toting cowboy with the caption, “Chase is trying his best not to fall on his way to find 6 races in the USA!”

Clearly in reference to Liberty Media’s desire to have more races in the United States.

This year Ecclestone has had a fair share of digs at Carey and Liberty Media, accusing the new owners of turning Formula 1 from a Michelin star restaurant he established to a fast-food joint. Hence the steaming cup of takeaway coffee that Carey can be seen carrying on his perilous trip.

The card shows Ecclestone also walking on a tight-rope, in the opposite direction, beneath a gleaming sun, bypassing Europe (below the rope) to open-armed world leaders, declaring brazenly: “Bernie made it with a little help from his friends!”

All this being watched by an angelic FIA President Jean Todt, an ornament at the top of a Christmas tree.

The inside of the Christmas card has a warning rather than a greeting: “Another year has gone and with the happy Christmas with us, you now have time to think about what you should not have done this year, and what you are going to do next year.”

Merry Christmas and thanks, Bernie!

The Kubica update...

 by JSNL


So, as we head into the Christmas holiday, I am going to stop writing news, not that there has been much, and I may also stop the Fascinating Fact series for a few days, if I need some time off. The plan is to go on until I reach 100, which would be the end of February if I do one every day, so there is some leeway for a few days off along the way.

However, the one big question about 2018 is who will drive the second (or first) Williams-Mercedes. This is an interesting situation with a lot of muddying of water going on at the moment. The word is that Robert Kubica was not convincingly fast in the Abu Dhabi test, but other sources say that this line is being fed out deliberately, so that Williams can avoid the accusation that they are going to choose a driver because of money, rather than ability.

What is clear is that Williams needs money, and the more the better, as Paddy Lowe, the team’s new chief technical officer, has things he wants to invest in, and (probably) a few more people he would like to hire. Williams is always a company that has tried to lead with engineering because this means that if the team builds a winning car, the price of the drivers will come down because fast drivers always want to drive the fastest cars. This is why the team has often fallen out with its World Champions in the past because they ask for more money than Williams is willing to pay. The key to success is building a fast car and Williams has not been very good at that in the modern era, although its last victory in Spain in 2012 was achieved by the mercurial Pastor Maldonado, a monster pay-driver.

In 2014, 2015 and 2016 the team had sufficient cash to run drivers it wanted: Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. In the first year that was helped by a settlement on the PDVSA contract because Maldonado wanted to go to Lotus instead (a disastrous decision). Last year the coffers were boosted by a similar thing, as Mercedes had to agree to pay certains things, or reduce engine bills, in order to get Williams to release Valtteri Bottas. In 2015 and 2016 the team had more money because it did better in the Constructors’ Championship in the previous seasons, with third places each year, dropping to fifth in 2016 and 2017. This cost the team about $10 million per year in prize money. The arrival of Lance Stroll was helpful because he brought a pile of money with him, in exchange for which Williams is believed to have provided space on the car which the Strolls could use to recoup the investment. That deal is believed to have reduced in 2018. Nonetheless, Williams still needs cash if it is to have the development programme it requires to close the gap to the super-big teams, which of course get far more money from the Formula One pot.

Williams may get an annual heritage payment of $10 million, but that is nothing compared to the loot that Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren are being paid, above and beyond the basic prize fund. If you don’t have money, you have to be cleverer and Lowe hopes that with aerodynamic boss Dirk de Beer, from Ferrari, and new vehicle dynamics chief Barney Hassell, from McLaren, the FW41 will be a much better car and will enable Williams to take the fight to Force India and defend against the likely onslaughts from McLaren-Renault, and indeed Renault Sport Racing itself.

Robert Kubica looked like the perfect candidate with rumours that he had as much as $11 million in backing from a Polish chain of convenience stores, and an energy company. This seemed rather odd given his struggles in the past to find cash in his home country, but sources suggest that this is not really a Polish deal, but rather one involving CVC Capital Partners, the former owners of the Formula One group, who have sold up and gone but who still understand the value of F1 as a means of delivering a message.

What’s interesting is that CVC has two investments at the moment in Poland: Zabka, a chain of Polish convenience stores, which were acquired earlier this year and, you guessed it, an energy company called PKP Energetyka, acquired in 2015. This distributes electricity to the country’s railway system and to other businesses. It provides maintenance for the railway network and operates fuel stations for diesel locomotives, while also reselling electricity and gas.

The problem is that Sergey Sirotkin, who needs to be racing in 2018 and not being a reserve driver again, is rumoured to have come up with $22 million from his regular backer SMP Bank, and he did a decent job in the recent testing. There is no doubt that this money will actually arrive (which is not the case with all Russians deals in F1 history) but there is a question about whether Williams (and its other sponsors) want the association with SMP. The bank is owned by Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, oligarchs who are close associates and old friends of none other than Vladimir Putin.

The bad news is that the bank is on the list of sanctioned Russians firms, resulting from the Ukraine Crisis in 2014. However, it is not quite that simple as SMP is only black-listed in the United States and Canada, but is not on the EU list. The Rotenberg brothers are also listed by they appear on different lists as well. The current pause in negotiations is probably to provide Kubica to see if any more money can be found to support his candidature. Both Zakba and PKP Energetyka are companies with multi-billion dollar annual revenues so perhaps they can find some more…

CIRCUIT GILLES VILLENEUVE VENUE SET FOR $48-MILLION REVAMP

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve venue of the Canadian Grand Prix has been earmarked for a $48-million revamp of the ageing facilities, including the team garages, control tower, podium and media centre while developing VIP viewing areas and terraces.

The Société du parc Jean-Drapeau (SPJD) unveiled at a press conference on Thursday the final concept of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve paddocks renovation project.

The project entails the construction of a new, modern and multi-purpose building at the venue, with a $48-million budget allocated for the endeavour.

The current Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve infrastructure has exceeded its serviceable lifespan and facilities are in need of an upgrade.

Formula 1 World Championship hosting requirements have changed substantially since the first race at the man-made Ile Notre Dame in 1978, particularly in terms of hosting the F1 teams and the technological needs related to the garages, control tower and media areas.

The project will enable the consolidating of all of the services into one building, which currently is not the case. Furthermore, the SPJD revealed that they have worked with its partners to devise a modern, accessible building on the cutting edge of technology.

It should be noted that, as part of the renewal of the agreement to stage the Canadian Grand Prix from 2015 to 2029, the Société du Parc Jean- Drapeau (SPJD) made the commitment to renovate and expand the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve infrastructure.

The objective of the project is to upgrade the equipment in the paddock, which were built in 1988, and bring it up to the standards required by the FIA and the Formula 1 World Championship (FOWC), while increasing the capacity of the lodges above the garages to 5,000 people, up from the current capacity of 1,800.

The building will be equipped, among other things, with a freight elevator which can be used to bring cars or heavy furniture to each of the levels of the building. It will also have a glassed-in elevator for the clientele.

The new paddocks will be set up on three storeys, divided in the following manner:
1st storey: F1 team garages, control tower and offices for the staff
2nd storey: Lodges, control tower, podium and media areas
3rd storey: Lodges and terrace

Construction will begin immediately after the 2018 Grand Prix is over, and the project will be completed in April 2019.

Construction Schedule:

December 2017 Launch of the call for tenders
March 2018 Granting of the contract
June 2018 Grand Prix of Canada
July 2018 Beginning of the roadworks
April 2019 End of the works
June 2019 Grand Prix of Canada

THE ROAD TO FORMULA 1 ONLY FOR RICH KIDS

By: Paul Velasco

How much money does it take to get a young driver from karting, through the junior categories, to knocking on the door of a Formula 1 team? It is a question faced by many fathers who dream of taking their karting sons to the pinnacle of the sport.

For the sake of this piece, let’s create a fictitious young race driver and let’s call him Johnny Speed, a 14-year-old racer who happens to be a prodigious talent. Already he would have completed five or six successful years of junior karting with a couple of national or regional titles under his belt and is now ready to embark on the world of car racing.

Keep in mind that the four or five years of karting, before he hit his teens, would have set his parents back by anything between $500,000 to $700,000, depending on how intense the karting is for the kid – rule of thumb: the more testing and racing the better…

Now to get young Speed into a race car, it would be useful to start with the Formula 4 series which has become the logical step from karting to open-wheel racing. The series typically features big grids of like-minded youngsters, offering important big-track experience and providing the heftier horsepower to wean him away from karting.

Somewhere around $300,000 will get him an F4 seat for the season. A couple of years will be required in the chosen series so that the transition from kart to single seater is successful. Thus that will come in at around $600,000 for both seasons.

After a couple of years in F4 for our hypothetical driver, the next logical rung on the ladder to the top is Formula 3. For this endeavour, Papa Speed will have to write a cheque of around $800,000 per season for a competitive team offering plenty of testing as well as racing.

For Johnny, now 16 years old, a second year in the same F3 series would be handy, thus throw in another $800,000 to the programme for the privilege. Hopefully, in the second year, the youngster will score some victories, start raising eyebrows and maybe be a title contender.

With a good showing under his belt, at 17 he is a tad young to move into Formula 2 (formerly GP2) so a season of GP3 would be a fair call to make as the series runs on a number of Formula 1 circuits, and thus provides a great experience for our young man.

This step will cost around $1,000,000 to do it right, and thanks to his F3 experience (and his obvious talent) he should be a front-runner at this point. Pressure to perform increasing on the youngster with every outing.

At 18 it is a good time to target a Formula 2 seat for the next step towards the top. He is good, but he is no Max Verstappen at this stage, and he will be thrown into the deep end of the feeder series, where he will come up against a host of F1 aligned drivers and the majority, in his rookie F2 season, will have a great deal more experience.

Nevertheless, the Speed family have full faith in their lad, and they find the $2,500,000 to get him on to the F2 grid with a strong team and they well know that this will be a minimum two-year programme for their kid. The family will be $5,000,000 poorer after two years of this particular adventure in the acknowledged F1 feeder series.

To be on the safe side throw into the pot a million or so for unforeseen expenses that pop up during the journey: medical, writing off cars, additional testing etc.

Thus after several years, when you do the maths the budget to get young Speed to the doorstep of Formula 1 would have set his family and/or benefactors close to $10-million with absolutely no guarantee that he will ever line-up on the grid to start a grand prix.

However another $10-million, if there is that amount floating about in the family bank account/s, will get Johnny a season with a backmarker Formula 1 team.

And this is the sad thing about motor racing in the modern era: if an aspirant driver with buckets of talent does not have the cash to fund his dream, the likelihood of success is nil. It has become an elitist sport, where the children of the rich play with the hope of one day making it to the pinnacle of the sport.

The majority will be disappointed, but in the end, those with the most money are more likely to do so than those without.

The only real hope for a young gun is that during the course of his junior career he is spotted by the likes of Red Bull, or Mercedes or Ferrari or McLaren who then are convinced that young Speed is the real deal and invest in him.

But the chances are extremely slim that this will happen. A very select few benefit from such programmes and even then it is no guarantee that they will make it all the way. For example, the Red Bull junior driver programme is littered with drivers nursing shattered dreams.

There is also a naive and deluded misconception among many who embark into karting, without much knowledge of the sport, that sponsors are waiting with bags of the green stuff waiting and willing to throw money at promising drivers. That does not happen in the real world.

Once upon a time drivers of modest means – Niki Lauda, James Hunt and Gilles Villeneuve immediately spring to mind – with determination, guts and talent they were able to emerge from the pool of wannabes, but those are days long gone

Admittedly there are still rare exceptions to the rule: Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon could be singled out from the current crop of F1 drivers.

But at the same time, Lawrence Stroll showed how $40-million (or even more some say) could buy his son the best gear from karting through to Formula 1. Money guaranteed him a seat with Williams, one of the sport’s great teams taking a pay driver!

Alas, this is fast becoming the trend that has seeped from the very top right down to grassroots. Just visit any major karting event in the world and witness the enormous amounts of money being spent by multi-millionaires and billionaires on their siblings.

The ladder that comprises the junior racing series’ is now a playpen for the very, very rich who are going through the motions of gaining experience, knowing full well that money will open doors all the way to the top, even Formula 1.

Big Question: In future when or if Formula 1 – a sport of heroes – becomes a playground where rich kids of moderate talent strut their stuff who will want to watch?

NEW HAAS-MASERATI F1 DEAL

Maserati could be set to return to Formula 1 for the first time since the fifties as the powers that be behind the marque plan to become title sponsor of the Haas F1 Team.

Several sources claim that Ferrari and Maserati CEO Sergio Marchionne is setting the groundwork to return the Modena-based sportscar manufacturer back to Formula 1 after a 60 years absence.

The deal, which is expected to be a barter of sorts worth $25-million, would cover Haas’s Ferrari power unit expenses for the brand’s exposure on the American team’s cars. It would be the self funded team’s first major sponsorship deal should it happen.

Marchionne engineered a similar the branding exercise for Alfa Romeo which has returned to Formula 1 with Sauber, initially a commercial venture that could evolve into a greater technical partnership

Speedweek reports that when Marchionne was asked if Maserati could follow Alfa Romeo into Formula 1 with Haas, he replied, “The answer is yes potentially this can happen.”

“But right now we are far away from a concluding any such agreement, however, it is possible that something of this nature could develop in the future. We will see, time will tell.”

No one is sure of the timeline for the partnership, but some suggest that a deal could be in place as early as March next year in time for the 2018 season with Ferrari keen to strengthen their bargaining power as the sport contemplates new engine regulations.

Maserati has a fine pedigree in Formula 1 thanks to their success in the early years of the World Championship, winning two world titles with Juan Manuel Fangio winning two World Championships in 1954 and 1957.

WHY DUBAI NEVER GOT A GRAND PRIX

Dubai was the first of the Persian Gulf countries to flirt with the idea of hosting a grand prix as Bernie Ecclestone targeted expansion into the region, but a series of interesting circumstance conspired against the plan and as a result, Bahrain became the first venue for Formula 1 in the region followed by Abu Dhabi.

When I arrived in Dubai in 2004 to take up the role as Photo Director of Gulf News the city was a sliver of what it is today, a massive boom was evident in the numerous construction projects that dotted the landscape. The Dubai dream was in full swing.

Legend has it that shortly after the turn of this century Ecclestone flew to Dubai for a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, to negotiate a deal for a Formula 1 race in the Emirate.

A track was already in the process of being built for this purpose – Dubai Autodrome – on the outskirts of the city. The plan was to build it in several phases with a grand prix at the venue the ultimate goal.

Ecclestone arrived in Dubai and was whisked off to a palace for the meeting with the ruler but was kept waiting and waiting…

This annoyed the F1 supremo to the point that while he bided his time he made a call to the rulers of Bahrain, who had also shown an interest in hosting a grand prix, and asked them if they were serious about their bid.

They of course were and, tired of waiting for the meeting with the Sheikh, Ecclestone ordered his private jet to be fired up – destination Bahrain – returned to the airport and departed for Manama.

What transpired is now history, as Bahrain’s vision for Formula 1 became reality. They built the Bahrain International Circuit and in 2004 a grand prix was held in the kingdom which Michael Schumacher won. The venue remains part of the Formula 1 calendar to this day.

Dubai continued to boom and the idea of a Formula 1 race was shifted to the back burner as Sheikh Mohammed focused instead on developing other mainstream sports events such as the Rugby Sevens, Dubai Open tennis, the Dubai World Cup horse race and international golf.

Dubai Autodrome opened around the same time as the first Bahrain Grand Prix happened and from the outset was (and is) a circuit much appreciated by drivers. A challenging 5.4 km track which came to life with the hosting of the 2004 FIA GT Championship, European Touring Car Championship and Formula Renault V6 Eurocup.

Since then the venue hosted the now defunct A1 GP and GP2 Asia and has hosted an annual 24 Hours race for GT, sports cars and touring cars since 2006. Over the years of working there, I was privy to inside information and can report that NASCAR, Indycar, DTM, WEC, MotoGP all made approaches thinking (erroneously) that there was limitless money to throw at racing. There was and there is none.

Of course these days the dream of a grand prix is a very distant memory.

Between 2004 and 2008 Dubai boomed in a manner that few modern cities have done in history. From a sedate seaside city it turned into a sprawling metropolis, glittering with stupendous highrise structures, including the world tallest building. The transformation was astounding even to those who lived through the years of non-stop construction.

But in 2007 the global crisis struck and while Dubai at first seemed immune to the collapse, in 2008 the city felt the wrath of the financial catastrophe. By the time the dust settled the Emirate was all but bankrupt.

The scars of 2008 remain. Amid the city’s skyscrapers remain unfinished projects, abandoned by lack of funding and left to rot to this day. While new projects, including the multi-billion dollar canal, emerged and have been completed. But the skeletons remain on the landscape.

Dubai Autodrome, owned by property company Union Properties, felt the brunt of the crisis, teetering on the verge of collapse. It never really recovered and the results of neglect at the racing venue they own are clearly visible.

The track remains, defiant as it still is a much respected and probably the most used piece of racing tarmac in the region. But the decaying surrounds provide cruel evidence into how Dubai woke up to what proved to be a bad dream.

A skyscraper hotel whose shadow falls on Turn 3 remains empty and slowly decaying in the desert heat. Next to it, along the stretch from Turn 1 to Turn 3 is a decomposing structure which at one point harboured lofty ambitions of being a motor mall.

Also adjacent to the venue, opposite the management building, is a hotel that was also never finished and remains a skeleton that welcomes visitors as they enter Motor City, the constantly evolving residential area that surrounds the race track.

Ironically, while two hotels stand to rot, a third has since been built overlooking the final turn and set to open in January.

How long the Autodrome remains is a constant source of debate. Union Properties in its current guise is an excuse for a company, without any interest whatsoever in the circuit or motorsport for that matter.

It is no secret that Union Properties are keen to re-zone the prime land which the track occupies so that they can tear it down and expand the residential area that surrounds it, but the mandate they have from the ruler of Dubai handed to the previous cabal that ran the company (to the ground) is to run and maintain the Autodrome as a motorsport complex until 2024.

Thereafter it is unknown what will happen, but we do know what the owners have in mind…

History shows that when the opportunity arose for a second grand prix in the Gulf, Abu Dhabi seized the opportunity and pumped a whopping $1.3-billion to build Yas Marina Circuit. In 2009 it hosted a grand prix for the first time and remains on the calendar ever since.

You may ask, how did Abu Dhabi find the money to achieve the goal while Dubai failed?

Having lived in the UAE for over a decade I always explain the difference between Dubai and Abu Dhabi by likening the cities to two sisters:

Dubai is the sister who is brash, over-the-top, ostentatious, loud and a tart of sorts with all her flash and bling of zirconias and plastic. On the other hand, Abu Dhabi is more demure, conservative and proper, but her jewellery is the real deal, namely diamonds and proper pearls.

Dubai tends to do things first but with little substance, while Abu Dhabi does it right and built to last.

And most importantly, Abu Dhabi has real money thanks to having 80% of the country’s oil production and reserves. Dubai has none of this, surviving by busking and works as a business hub which cares little about the colour of the money or where it originates from…

Invariably talk of a grand prix in Dubai emerges every now and then. Talk of a street race has done the rounds recently, but the truth is that such a project would cost half a billion dollars to happen, money the city coffers does not have.

As for Dubai Autodrome, the venue would need around $200-million to spruce up the place and add facilities so that it could host Formula 1 to the standards required by the sport.

However, with Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (60km down the road) and their seven star Yas Marina Circuit firmly entrenched on the calendar, a Dubai Grand Prix will not happen in the foreseeable future yet, an ePrix discussion came and went without any real progress.

Once again Dubai was the first to toy with the idea of a grand prix in the region after all Ecclestone made it his first port of call for a race and only being stood up by the Sheikh scuppered the deal.

And of course, along came the other sister – Abu Dhabi – and did it properly.

What is Ferrari in a corporate sense?

So, what is this thing we so loosely refer to as Ferrari? Posters at the GP24/7 forum frequently refer to Fiat ownership and profits from the sale of Jeeps when prognosticating about what the Ferrari F1 team will do in the near future.

In fact, Ferrari is financially separate and distinct from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). The only link between the two companies is the fact that Sergio Marchionne serves as CEO of both of them. Here are some Ferrari facts gleaned mainly from reliable sources on the web.

Please feel free to offer corrections, but be forewarned that much of what is posted out on the web as fact is sorely out of date.

What is Ferrari in a corporate sense?

Ferrari NV, known as Ferrari, is an Italy-based designer, manufacturer and retailer of sports cars that is incorporated in the Netherlands. It operates under the Ferrari brand. The company offers financing services through Ferrari Financial Services. It also produces limited series and one-off cars. The company divides its regional markets in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa), Americas, Greater China and Rest of APAC (Asia-Pacific region, excluding Greater China) and is active in over 60 markets worldwide through a network of authorized dealers.

Who is Sergio Marchionne?

Sergio Marchionne (born June 17, 1952) is an Italian-Canadian executive who is currently the Chairman of CNH Industrial, the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Chairman and CEO of Ferrari and also Chairman of Maserati.

Additionally, he is the Chairman of Swiss-based SGS and he was the non-executive Vice Chairman of the Board of the global banking group UBS from 2008 to 2010, as well as the elected Chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association for 2012 (first elected in January 2006).

He is also a member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics as well as Chairman of the Italian Branch of the Council for the United States and Italy. Finally, Marchionne is on the board of directors of Philip Morris International, a major corporate sponsor of the Ferrari F1 team.

At age 13, Marchionne emigrated with his family from Italy to Toronto, Canada. As a result, he has dual Canadian and Italian citizenship and speaks fluent English and Italian. He is a Canadian Certified General Accountant (FCGA), barrister, and a fellow of the Certified General Accountants of Ontario.

Marchionne holds a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, Canada and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Windsor, Canada. Marchionne also holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Philosophy and minor in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Marchionne has earned a reputation for being blunt and outspoken, which has drawn both praise and criticism.

In a 2009 Forbes interview, Massimo Vecchio, an analyst with Mediobanca, commented Marchionne’s controversial management style, stating: “He’s got a lot of American in his management style. The only thing that matters to him is results. If you don’t deliver, you are out. He is quite ruthless. When Marchionne took over the company [Fiat], he was literally firing one manager a day but there was a leadership problem and nobody wanted to take hard decisions. The communication from bottom to top in management was slow and wrong. He also changed that. He reduced the layers of management and gave his role a more direct view of what the business was doing. And of course his ego is very big and sometimes people who had clashes with him were basically fired. Looking at his style from outside it seems awful, but he delivered.”

Remember 1969?

As the prospect of a Ford purchase of Ferrari fell through, FIAT approached Ferrari with a more flexible proposal and purchased controlling interests in the company in 1969. Enzo Ferrari retained a 10% share, which is currently owned by his son Piero Lardi Ferrari.

Profitability in 2014

The supercar division accounted for 12% of Fiat Chrysler’s profit before interest and tax in 2014.

Autumn 2016 10% of Ferrari Stock Sold

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sold 10% of Ferrari in an initial public offering. FCA retained 80% of the Ferrari stock which had a market value of about $7.3 billion. The remaining 10% belonged to Piero Ferrari, the son of founder Enzo Ferrari.

FCA Sells Off Remaining Ferrari Stock January 2016

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) distributed to shareholders its remaining 80% stake in Ferrari. Investors received one Ferrari share for every 10 FCA shares they owned. Ferrari NV was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2015.

Marchionne, who is also Ferrari’s chairman, has been positioning the supercar manufacturer as a creator of high-end products, rather than as an automaker, to entice stock buyers. Approximately thirty Ferrari boutiques exist worldwide, with two owned by Ferrari and the rest operating as franchises. The stores sell branded clothes, accessories and racing memorabilia. Clothing includes upscale and lower-priced collections for men, women, and children.

As of 2016, the estimated total of Ferrari built and sold cars throughout its entire company history was about 195,000. Ferrari production increased to 8,014 vehicles in 2016 resulting in complaints from past and current customers that the brand was losing its exclusivity and hurting the value of Ferrari vehicles purchased.

A Snapshot of Ferrari NV Market Performance from 2 December 2017

Recent performance of Ferrari NV (traded as RACE.N) stock:



Ferrari NV’s market capitalization (the market value of the company’s outstanding shares) is currently just over $20 billion. As can be seen from the chart above, this can vary widely as the stock has a 52-week high of $121.12 and a 52-week low of only $53.94. The third quarter 2017 profitability numbers have been described as being “as predicted” but disappointing.

Ferrari F1 Team

Ferrari S.p.A. operates as a subsidiary of Ferrari NV.

“Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. competing as Scuderia Ferrari” is the official name of the racing division of the luxury Italian auto manufacturer, Ferrari, and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team was initially based in Modena from its pre-war founding until 1943, when Enzo Ferrari moved the team to a new factory in Maranello in 1943. Both Scuderia Ferrari and the Ferrari road car factory remain at Maranello to this day. The team owns and operates a test track on the same site, the Fiorano Circuit built in 1972, which is used for testing road and race cars.

In 1987, Ferrari considered abandoning Formula One for the American IndyCar series. This threat was used as a bargaining tool with the FIA – Enzo Ferrari offered to cancel the IndyCar Project and commit to Formula One on the condition that the technical regulations were not changed to exclude V12 engines. The FIA agreed to this, and the IndyCar project was shelved, although a car, the Ferrari 637 had already been constructed.

In 2009, it had emerged that Ferrari had an FIA-sanctioned veto on the technical regulations which had not been made public.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Funding

The F1 Group’s overall profits ($1.36 billion this year) are divided so that the F1 Group stockholders receive 50% as their profits, and the teams receive 50% for the prize money fund. The prize money fund is divided into “columns” according to performance (points), participation, and “team of long-standing” status. The teams of “long-standing” are Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams.

The 2016 profits get distributed to teams at the end of the 2017 season. There’s always a one-year delay. In the 2017 distribution currently being made, Ferrari will get the basic $42 million for participating, $56 million for points earned, and $20 million from the special bonus fund for “long-standing” teams.

That last $20 million comes from the F1 Group fund, NOT the teams’ prize money fund. In addition to this, Ferrari also receives a unique bonus of 2.5% to a special contract with the F1 Group. In recent years, this bonus has been worth as much as $100 million. This year, Ferrari will get $90 million. No other team receives a similar bonus.

Again, this $90 million comes NOT from the teams’ prize money fund but from the F1 Group’s profits. Presumably, if Ferrari’s special bonus were to be ended tomorrow, that money would be distributed to the F1 Group’s stockholders, not to the other teams. That would maintain the 50/50 split of profits and remove any advantage Ferrari might be gaining from the special bonus.

If all five of the “long-standing” lost their bonuses, that money would also revert to the F1 Group’s fund, not to the teams’ fund. Bear in mind that these teams do not all receive equal bonuses.

So, for this year, Ferrari will receive a total of $208 million from Formula One. The total Ferrari F1 budget has been estimated by one source to be around $360 million. (Again, it’s very difficult to find reliable numbers as different sources tend to disagree.) That would mean that the remaining $152 million would have to come from sponsorship income, from Scuderia Ferrari’s own coffers, or from the parent corporation, Ferrari NV.

Santander has announced that it will not be a Ferrari sponsor beyond the 2017 season which could represent a loss of $47 million in sponsorship. Philip Morris International sponsorship (Marlboro money) is rumoured to be around $100 million.

That money is probably safe since Sergio Marchionne
 is on the PMI board of directors, and Maurizio Arrivabene was a Vice President at PMI before being brought to Ferrari by Marchionne. Add all of those numbers up, and you have $355 million of the reported $360 million Ferrari F1 budget for 2017.

These figures are “guesstimates” based upon internet reports that are often no better than rumors, but it would seem that Scuderia Ferrari has been largely self-funded and has not been much of a financial drain upon the Scuderia’s resources or on those of the parent corporation Ferrari NV.

Most observers are expecting Liberty Media to end Ferrari’s “unique bonus” of $90 million when the current Concorde Agreement expires, and the Scuderia would need to source that money from somewhere unless it reduces its operating budget significantly.

It might also lose the $20 “long-standing” team bonus. Since Mercedes is already spending significantly more than the present $360 million Ferrari budget, it will be even harder for Ferrari to win a championship unless Mercedes withdraw from Formula One or budget caps are imposed.

The companies currently sponsoring Scuderia Ferrari include Alfa Romeo, Philip Morris International, Santander, Shell, Hublot, TNT Energy Drink, Kaspersky Lab, América Móvil, Weichai Holding Group Co., Ltd., UPS and Ray-Ban. (Santander has announced that it will not be a Ferrari sponsor beyond the 2017 season.)

The official suppliers of Ferrari include Puma, Magneti Marelli, OMR, SKF, Iveco, NGK, Brembo, ZF Sachs, Mahle GmbH, Oakley, Inc., and Pakelo. Other suppliers include Bell Sports, Honeywell, OZ Group and Technogym.

In case you have felt you have good advice to offer Scuderia Ferrari, S&P Global Market Intelligence reports that they may be reached here by phone: 39 0536 94 911

Who deserves the good, the bad and the ugly Awards for the Formula 1 season of 2017

It’s that time of the year again when we, along with our readers decide who deserves the good, the bad and the ugly GrandPrix247 Awards for the Formula 1 season of 2017.

It was a year packed with intrigue as well as great on-track action and off-track shenanigans which will remain the hallmarks of the year. Below are the categories we deemed fit for awards. The polls will close on Friday, 8 December 2017 with the final results to be announced a couple of days later.

The readers’ votes will count 80% towards the final vote, with the other 20% being garnered in-house from GrandPrix247 editorial team and select contributors.

2017 Driver of the Year

• Lewis Hamilton (49%, Votes)
• Esteban Ocon (16%, Votes)
• Max Verstappen (14%, Votes)
• Daniel Ricciardo (14%, Votes)
• Sebastian Vettel (7%, Votes)

2017 Team of the Year

• Force India (48%, Votes)
• Mercedes (43%, Votes)
• Red Bull (5%, Votes)
• Ferrari (5%, Votes)

2017 Rookie of the Year

• Lance Stroll (62%, Votes)
• Stoffel Vandoorne (33%, Votes)
• Brendon Hartley (5%, Votes)
• Pierre Gasly (0%, Votes)

2017 Car of the Year

• Force India VJM10 (37%, Votes)
• Mercedes W08 (35%, Votes)
• Ferrari SF70H (19%, Votes)
• Red Bull RB13 (9%, Votes)

2017 Race of the Year

• Azerbaijan Grand Prix (61%, Votes)
• Singapore Grand Prix (15%, Votes)
• Australian Grand Prix (10%, Votes)
• Malaysian Grand Prix (10%, Votes)
• Spanish Grand Prix (5%, Votes)
• Russian Grand Prix (0%, Votes)

2017 Overtaker of the Year

• Daniel Ricciardo (49%, Votes)
• Max Verstappen (22%, Votes)
• Fernando Alonso (15%, Votes)
• Lewis Hamilton (10%, Votes)
• Sebastian Vettel (5%, Votes)

2017 Controversy of the Year

• Baku Vettel vs Hamilton Collision (58%, Votes)
• Singapore Vettel-Verstappen-Raikkonen Crash (21%, Votes)
• Toro Rosso vs Renault (11%, Votes)
• Renault Poach Marcin Budkowski (5%, Votes)
• Force India Civil War (5%, Votes)

2017 Disappointment of the Year

• Williams (38%, Votes)
• Liberty Media (22%, Votes)
• Renault (19%, Votes)
• Ferrari (11%, Votes)
• New F1 Logo (11%, Votes)

2017 Villain of the Year (Non-Driver)

• Cyril Abiteboul (51%, Votes)
• Bernie Ecclestone (27%, Votes)
• Vijay Mallya (12%, Votes)
• Chase Carey (10%, Votes)

2017 Villain of the Year (Driver)

• Kevin Magnussen (55%, Votes)
• Daniil Kvyat (25%, Votes)
• Max Verstappen (13%, Votes)
• Sebastian Vettel (8%, Votes)

2017 Under-performer of the Year

• Jolyon Palmer (65%, Votes)
• Kimi Raikkonen (20%, Votes)
• Marcus Ericsson (5%, Votes)
• Daniil Kvyat (5%, Votes)
• Lance Stroll (5%, Votes)
• Brendon Hartley (0%, Votes)

2017 Newsmaker of the Year

• Robert Kubica (48%, Votes)
• Sebastian Vettel (25%, Votes)
• Lewis Hamilton (18%, Votes)
• Daniil Kvyat (10%, Votes)
• Jolyon Palmer (0%, Votes)

2017 Star of the Future

• Esteban Ocon (63%, Votes)
• Carlos Sainz (26%, Votes)
• Stoffel Vandoorne (5%, Votes)
• Lance Stroll (5%, Votes)
• Pascal Wehrlein (0%, Votes)

2017 Most Promising Youngster

• Charles Leclerc (58%, Votes)
• Lando Norris (42%, Votes)
• Sean Geleal (0%, Votes)
• Oliver Turvey (0%, Votes)
• Nikita Mazepin (0%, Votes)
• Sergey Sirotkin (0%, Votes)
• Antonio Giovinazzi (0%, Votes)