F1 links: New Briatore broadside from Piquet

Posted on

| Written by

Nelson Piquet Jr. again criticizes Flavio Briatore

“A manager, in his view, is someone who takes 20 percent from the drivers’ money. In our view, it would be someone trying their best for a good contract.”

Ele ta otimo …vivaaaa

Picture posted by Rubens Barrichello of him with a recovering Felipe Massa

The Name’s Alguersuari…

How to pronounce 'Alguersuari'

F1B Downshift #1~ Tommy Byrne

Formula 1 Blog talks to Tommy Byrne

Montagny joins lineup

Ex-Super Aguri driver Franck Montagny to drive for top indyCar team Andretti-Green at Sears Point (Infineon Raceway).

It’s payday!

"For this 18-month period it was agreed that the teams would be paid 50% of the F1 revenues generated rather than the 25% that was previously the case. With the group boasting revenues in the region of $1.5bn in this period, the additional money amounted to around $360m."

Spanish president slams Badoer choice

Spanish motorsport federation president Carlos Gracia: “It is one of the most absurd things that the people in charge of Ferrari have ever decided. I consider Gené to be better prepared [to return to F1 at short notice], and would have though that winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in June – the first time that a Spanish driver has shown himself capable of racing for victory in the race – would have been an important factor for Ferrari. Badoer has not driven for three years, and Gene is in much better form than he is."

These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

14 comments on “F1 links: New Briatore broadside from Piquet”

  1. Thanks for the linkback Keith. Much appreciated mate.

  2. Piquet, has a point, when Briatore was seen to be leaving the circuit when Piquet was having one of his best races, he hardly showed his support for one of his paycheques…

    1. yeah, and it’s little bit of absurd, that he wasn’t closer to a point than in hungary. only 3,5 seconds, however four cars…

  3. I wish Piquet would show a bit of decorum and keep his mouth shut. If he keeps going on like this I get the feeling he will catch SSS (Scott Speed Syndrome) and become persona non grata.

    I want him to get a ride for next year but teams will be hesitant to employ someone who is a bit too loud and a bit too slow.

  4. Great Massa/Barichello shot. So good to see Massa looking well after that horrid accident.

  5. payday …..

    Its a pity that BMW has not been able to do things in a way that Sauber gets money from the F1 powers.
    But extracting money from Bernie is like trying to squeeze water out of a stone.
    You have to admit that Uncle Bernie is a schrewd businessman.

    Would like to know more about the conditions of new Concorde agreement. While we have been distracted with all the circus about the FIA crazy rules, Mosley etc, the real business has been going on, mostly between Bernie and Lou.

    1. Maybe this will help…..”According to a report in the Express by Pitpass’ business editor Chris Sylt, F1’s teams will get a financial bonus for the next five years in return for signing the Concorde and it will cost the sport over $180m.

      F1 had revenues last year of $1.5bn and the teams get 50% of its profits giving them a total of around $500m annually. This deal has been in place since 2008 and before that the teams’ take only came to around 25% of profits. However, as an incentive for signing the Concorde Bernie Ecclestone committed to giving the teams a payment amounting to the difference between their 50% profit share and the lower rate they received from 2004 to 2007.

      The 2007 accounts for Delta 3, F1’s UK holding company, state that “the increases in prize fund in respect of 2004-7 are estimated at $182.0m and these will be paid out in five equal instalments…at the end of each year in the period 2008-12.” Williams is one of the few teams which was paid its share of this upfront but, despite this, F1 will still have to pay out $73m this year as the rest of the teams should get their 2008 and 2009 bonus payments in one go.

      The payout is sure to put more pressure on F1’s profit margins which are already being squeezed by the downturn. Corporate hospitality bookings, which provide around 10% of F1’s total revenue, are believed to be down by as much as 25% this year. However, although the Concorde signing may lead to F1 having a financially rough ride this year, it should nevertheless give the sport’s owners a big boost.

      Finance firm CVC bought F1 in 2006 and the Concorde is its ticket to selling the sport at a premium since it guarantees the participation of the star teams. Although the Concorde doesn’t give CVC stability beyond 2012, it lays the groundwork for a follow-up contract and F1’s finances have already been given a bounce by this first step being reached.

      CVC used a loan of over $2bn to fund its acquisition of F1 and, since it bought the sport, the right to repayment of the debt has been sold by the banks which lent CVC the money. The price of the debt gives a good indication of the health of F1 – the more likely it looks that the sport will fail, the lower the price of the debt.

      So, for example, when the threat of a rival series was rife, the debt was selling for 69p in the Pound. In other words, the risk of F1 failing to make enough money to pay back all the debt was so great that buyers would only pay 69% of the amount which the sport should pay them back. However, following the signing of the Concorde, the price rose to 75p and the debt owners aren’t the only ones who will be thankful that the contract has been signed.

      The signing bonus is also a timely windfall for many of teams such as Renault, which will lose an estimated $65m from the departure of its title sponsor ING next year, and Brawn which has signed few sponsorship deals despite its initial success.

      As F1 has found in the past, there is little point in committing teams to the sport when they don’t have the wherewithal to continue. Time will tell if the bonus is even enough to ensure that F1’s current teams can ride through the recession.”

      1. Wow, thanks 4 all the info !
        cheers

  6. Nelson Piquet Jr said a couple more things to Autosport. Link here

    1. Sorry, I couldnt post the link with the “link” feature. Here it goes:
      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77638

  7. I’m glad Piquet is speaking out – why should he keep quiet? I bet he thinks he has a guaranteed F1 seat somewhere or he probably would have kept a little quieter. I know someone who knows Flavio quite well, and he really sounds like a piece of work. Whether that means he knows about F1 is another matter, but he must be Hell to work for if you are not the teacher’s pet like Alonso. I bet that seat next to Alonso at Renault is horrendous to endure. Mind you, the money’s not bad, but the low morale and humiliation must be appalling.

    1. yeah….as bad as being Alonso at McLaren and having to cope with the Hamiltons and Ron Dennis….what Flav did at Hungary was a total lack of style. Both, Nelson and Flavio made lots of mistakes during the season…definetely Flavio managed the situation very badly

    2. It’s only bad to drive the seat next to Alonso when you suck.

      If Piquet hadn’t failed so miserably, he’d had a lot more support.

  8. Really liked every bit of this post.Thanks All over again. Fantastic.

Comments are closed.