Hamilton and Alonso are best-paid sportsmen

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are the biggest earners in their home countries.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Hamilton is England’s highest sports earner (ESPN)

“The 2008 world champion earned $18,473,684 [11.1m] last year, as drivers made numerous appearances on the list for their respective countries.”

Williams sign ‘Spygate’ engineer Mike Coughlan as infighting escalates (The Guardian)

“In a conference call Parr told reporters: ‘Patrick has made it clear that he will be retiring this year. That’s nothing to do with the restructuring, it’s just the fact that he’s turning 65 and had already signalled that it’s time for him to move on to his next set of interests in life.’ But Head has since denied Parr’s claims, saying: ‘What you are telling me is news to me. I wasn’t aware that Adam had said that.'”

Formula One Grand Prix in Manama still on (Gulf News)

“Nada Ahmed Yaseen, acting assistant undersecretary for tourism of Bahrain, said: ‘It’s not cancelled, it’s only postponed. We will hear good news soon.'”

F1 Fanatic on Twitter

“Commenting on… ‘bias’ and ‘arrogance’. Your thoughts much appreciated on this one: http://tinyurl.com/6ja89br

Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app

Our Day at Duxford; Team Lotus and Caterham (YouTube)

The sharp-eyed will spot yours truly skulking around in the background, three-and-a-half minutes in…

Circuit of the Americas name an invitation to many nations, official says (Austin-American Statesman)

“We wanted a very international flavour to the brand and wanted it to feel like it’s an open invitation to Mexico, to Central and South America, and even Canada. The idea is to make it feel like it’s really everyone’s.”

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

James despairs for the future of Williams:

I think Williams’ days are numbered. For me, putting the team on the stock market was a desperate move to generate funding. They’re using a pay driver who isn’t particularly rated by many and a driver who is certainly close to the end of his career.

The age of the privateer is over. Tyrrell, Lotus (under Colin Chapman), Arrows and Jordan are prime examples. Peter Sauber has made it quite clear he would like to leave F1 soon and is trying to secure the future of the team. It’s a shame, but it’s how the sport is evolving.

Today, even with the Resource Restriction Agreement, it’s all about the money – or lack of in some cases.
James

From the forum

Check out the F1 fan who has bought a 2007 Honda RA107 and is restoring it.

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Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Jack Sargeant, Martin Stanley, three4three and skodarap!

On this day in F1

Tiff Needell made his only F1 start on this day in 1980.

You can read more about his brief F1 career in his new book, reviewed here last week:

The footage below is from Needell’s failed attempt to qualify for the next round of the championship at Monaco:

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...

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78 comments on “Hamilton and Alonso are best-paid sportsmen”

  1. Cut your losses with Bahrain this year. Only negative can come from it.

  2. I quite like TIff’s helmet.

    Hamilton highest paid huh? What about David Beckham? Besides $18 Million isn’t that much compared ($18 Million not a lot..=P) to other years. I remember David Beckham earning $42 million in which Lewis earned $32 Million also.

    1. This (lower) figure is probably just their basic salary. Excluding private sponsoring and such.

    2. I quite like Tiff’s helmet as well, maybe it was an inspiration for that other topgear man in a white helmet ;) ?

  3. According to the guy quoted in that Gulf News article, life in Bahrain has returned to normal, and tourists are steadily returning. Maybe I’m just a big cynic but I can’t help but feel a teensy bit sceptical about that.

    I wish the regime would realise we’re not all idiots who are going to fall for every bit of crap they come out with. They could at least try and give their propaganda a modicum of plausiblity.

    1. I thought the same. Remember the Iraqi Information Minister at the start of the Iraq invasion, 2003? Has that sort of feel to it…

        1. Yep, shows exactly why it mostly backfires to claim something complicated and violent is over fast!

          I find it just as improbable to think that violence is now gone and “things are getting back to normal” in Bahrain until November as it was to claim Iraq would be a democratic and piecefull place after that Bush speech.

    2. Apparently it’s mostly the Saudi’s going back.

      Their press is probably not as overly negative about the situation as the UK press seems to be.

      1. Well, they will feel at home, greeting all their own troops there!

      2. For various reasons I find increasing Saudi influence in Bahrain more worrying than anything else…

      3. Disagree. The Bahrain Press will want the world to believe that it’s getting back to normal there, because it’s destroying the country’s tourism industry and economy.

        I think Government has an influence in the media in Bahrain, so they’ll love to tell the world that everything is fine, when they’re in fact looking through rose tinted spectacles.

        1. I would say the Bahrain government does not have “an influence” in local media. After more or less taking over control of the only independant news paper they are fully in control now.

          But actually what Patrickl writes shows it is not about being normal at all. The Saudi’s would be the first to support the government after first sending their troups to help, wouldn’t they?

    3. If that was true they wouldn’t have needed an extra month.

  4. The manufacturers have left, BMW, Honda, Toyota and Renault, and COTD suggests privateer teams are finished: will we actually have an F1 in place for future seasons if Williams, Sauber and Mallya pack it in, and Mercedes decide to leave following the footsteps of the last generation of manufacturers!

    1. Manufacturers want to scale back and become profitable. That’s why the likes of Porsche and Honda have had half an eye on the 2013 regulations, to see if they can a) Profit from them and b) Make them releveant to their road cars.

      I dont think we’ll see manufacturers as we have before, but we’ll see wealthy business people with their airlines, oil companies and fizzy drinks brands dictating, throwing the sort of money that manfacturers once did.

      That’s not to say that privateers wont make a come back, I reckon that Mclaren might give it a shot in the future if they can get the road business rolling.

      1. I wouldn’t miss companies like Toyota, Renault or even BMW if companies like Honda and Porsche would return.

      2. McLaren is now a manufacturer, no?

        1. They’re getting there. The MP4-12c is a step in the right direction considering 2013 engine regulations are just around the corner.

        2. When we mean manufacturer we generally mean mass manufacturer. McLaren make what, 1000 cars a year?

          1. I was looking from a more providing their own engine point of view. Besides, Ferrari’s hardly sell like Renault’s.

  5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO Jack Sargeant.He is the one & only person so far in my life who gave me the opportunity to write on blog.Thanks.

    1. Happy birthday to you Jack! keep up the nice work.

      And off course a happy birthday to Martin Stanley, three4three and skodarap as well.

  6. Interestingly, Kimi even earns more to keep his feet up.

    1. Leftovers from his early terminated contract with Ferrari, $24million for the 2010 season…in essence Ferrari have paid $55 million for Alonso … nice budget cuts, considering thats probably more then HRT’s entire budget. Ferrari have paid $9,430 per Grand Prix km for Alonso, in 2010. Wouldn’t like to have been in that budget meeting.

      1. Which equates to Alonso earning approx $838.23 per second whist at top speed.

        1. As good as Alonso is, that is overpriced.

          By a lot.

    2. I bet Montaya’s earnings only put him in between the top earners of officially declared income in Columbia!

      1. Lol, you can say that again!

        1. mind that there are talking about sportsmen only

      2. Haha indeed, there are plenty of Columbians earning more than that in a year.

  7. an open invitation to Mexico, to Central and South America, and even Canada.

    We have our own racetracks, thank you very much!!! Just because it’s called “Circuit of the Americas” doesn’t mean it’s “more than a US grand prix”.

    I hate that circuit already.

    “Part of what we like is that the name feels classic and long-term,”

    It doesn’t, it just feels horrid.

    1. My first reaction to the name when it was announced was that they were aiming at the Latin American market, and I think it’s a very smart move. Unfortunately, Americans are by now in the no-win situation where anything they say can be interpreted as arrogance. I think their name and approach is just a sign that the organizers know that they need more than just a United States audience to succeed.

      1. I think it is smart and I also think it is a fine name.

        We have our own racetracks, thank you very much!

        You may have your won tracks, but surely you can’t be saying that you don’t welcome a state of the art facility, purpose built for F1. It’s a good move for F1 and a good move for ALL of the Americas.

        1. Agree totally.

        2. It is good, but I think “state of the art facilities” can be overrated. It would take a damn fine track to challenge Montreal.

        3. And all the Latin Americans who will no doubt be employed at the circuit.

        4. I agree with this pretty much, as long as the track is actually good, otherwise it would be blowing it’s own trumpet a little :)

  8. A very telling sentiment from that article about Williams:

    A Williams insider said today: “There are a few things wrong at Williams at the moment and Sam and Jon are little more than scapegoats. Sam is a good man who was overworked, though he probably should have appointed better people around him.”

    Also interesting to hear Head being not amused to learn Parr spoke about him retiring this year, as he had wanted to keep that out of the news for now. Possibly Parr had to say this to avoid claims of keeping informatino from the share holders?

    Looks like Williams management is not really operating all that well currently.

    1. To be honest I’m a bit confused by the whole thng. First there was talk of immediate and drastic measures. In reality they’ve changed nothing in the short term, except that their technical people who are trying to improve the car ar all people that will be leaving the team at year’s end, Head included. I’m not sure how demotivating the technical staff is intended to be an improvement. Who knows though, maybe it’ll be magical and they’ll be right up at the front of the grid next year. Doubt it though.

      1. When else can they make the change? Now is the best time so that it’ll already be the new team designing the 2012 car – that starts around June, when Coughlan comes in. Sam and Jon will need to continue doing well until they’ve found new jobs, because they need to somehow impress rival bosses.

  9. “Commenting on… ‘bias’ and ‘arrogance’. Your thoughts much appreciated on this one: http://tinyurl.com/6ja89br”

    I thought your response was appropriate. It’s not as if you’re running a customer-based service and need to pander to idiots. The accusation of bias was just pulled out of thin air and then stated in the kind of confrontational manner that makes internet exchanges so much less pleasant than they could be. Taking out someone for their spelling in a normal exchange is inconsiderate. Taking out someone for their inability or unwillingness write properly when they’re being arrogant and insulting is only the tip of the iceberg of what could be said.

    1. Totally agree – too many people think that someone is being ‘biased’ when they really mean that someone is ‘saying something I don’t agree with’

      1. I freely admit I’m biased towards my opinion.

        Otherwise I’d just be making noise.

        1. That isn’t the same thing as accusing someone of displaying bias just because they say something you don’t like.

    2. Clearly, that was a really ridiculous accusation that guy made, and I can see why Keith was so annoyed, but I think Oliver has a point.

      The ‘can’t spell’ bit was unnecessary- for all we know he could be 7 years old, or dyslexic, or Japanese, or what have you. Also, loads of us are hiding behind a fake name. I myself am both hiding behind a fake name and unable to spell!

      The rest of it I think was fair enough. But, I say in future let it go over your head and leave such petty squabbles to us readers!

      1. I myself am both hiding behind a fake name and unable to spell!

        What??

        1. Letting you into a secret here, but that isn’t actually Ned Flanders off The Simpsons…

      2. This is pretty much how I felt too, two wrongs dont make a right as they say. Keith is human though, and I think anyone would get ****** after they got poked with the bias stick as much as him.

  10. Petebaldwin
    4th May 2011, 8:56

    “We wanted a very international flavour to the brand and wanted it to feel like it’s an open invitation to Mexico, to Central and South America, and even Canada. The idea is to make it feel like it’s really everyone’s.”

    haha. What!? “Everyone’s welcome. We’ll even let Canadians in! Just for the F1 though…..”

    1. My favourite part of Stepehen Fry In America is when he was at the 49th parallel and commented that there were no hordes of Canadians trying to get in ;)

      1. A memorable moment indeed ^^

    2. What with the recent election results, who can blame them for being a bit reserved about Canadians :-D

      1. NDP!! NDP!!

      2. If anything, now the evangelist gun nuts have won they should be closer!

        1. Yeah, but that is hardly the crowd that a modern day, glitzy and classy Austin GP will want to attract, is it?

          Then again, maybe they can get all Canadians who do not like that in for a stay ;-)

  11. Hamilton and Alonso are the best, paid sportsmen

    lol

  12. what initially looked like Williams grabbing the bul by the horns and making much overdue changes; has quickly started to look like a team in meltdown ;-(

  13. Just read that ESPN article. Kimi is one smart man! Still on $25,000,000 even after his Ferrari contract has finished. I would give anything to trade wealth and jobs with him about now!

    1. Only for last year – Ferrari needed to pay him to leave so Alonso could take his seat.

  14. does Mclaren count as a privateer team?

  15. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    4th May 2011, 14:43

    About the “bias” issue, Keith should strip out all the points of this “Senor Smoke” from the F1 Predictions Championship, and ban his blog comments for two years, till MrSmoke feels he can return, probably commenting on another blog, and then WE all trueF1 fanatics would start pointing our fingers at him. Then this guy would (for sure) say we are all biased.

    PS: Sorry if I mispelled a word (:P)

    1. Sounds like Max Mosley’s kind of justice!

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        4th May 2011, 14:51

        LOL… Yeah you’re on the right to defend your job. As a teacher I have lots of cases where students blame you when they fail (for being absent, lack of attention, etc, etc) and I’m sure as a journalist you do hard work to keep this page alive.

        1. Respect for keeping the wild hordes at bay!

        2. My wife does the same for a living, not an easy job. Keep it up!

  16. That wages information is over 2 weeks old…

    1. Hadn’t seen it anywhere else before – have you got a link?

      1. This is where I saw it first – on 20/4/11 – http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6391145

    2. First time I have seen it and I am on alot of feeds but usually Fanatic is pretty close behind.

      It usually includes a rubbish filter which means I do need to look at the drivel about everyone saying “Yes I love Turkey best country ever and best fans” like most PR canned comments are.

      Sorry I went off on a tangent there, point stands F1Fanatic is best source.

  17. It’s going to take some serious money to top Raikkonens Ferrari pay cheque. He’s doing well out of WRC!

    1. Ha, I thought that as well, made me wonder at first but then I remembered.

      I hope it was worth it…

  18. Nice to see that F1 drivers are the best paid in their countries, they are (mostly) professional and respectable. I am guessing but the footballers won’t be far behind, if anyone has watched recent Champions League and English fixtures the behaviour was appalling, different sport yes but all the fighting and swearing and deliberate cheating left me seriously doubting whether I will bother watching anymore.

    I already gave up watching England internationals after the last World Cup, they were so bad I laughed!

  19. Surprisingly Raikkonen ($ 26m) is still best paid than any Formula 1 driver, even without Ferrari’s ‘pension’ that he received last year

  20. “Commenting on… ‘bias’ and ‘arrogance’. Your thoughts much appreciated on this one: http://tinyurl.com/6ja89br”

    You were well within your rights to defend yourself in whatever way you felt was right. While i feel the “can’t spell” part was irrelevant(though an edit button would have helped ;) ), maybe it was your way of showing your immediate frustration. I feel this is one of the best F1 sites wat with the relevant, unbiased and factual content that i find here.

    And good luck to the guy restoring the F1 car though.

  21. Quoting Tony Fernandez in the video, he had just seen pictures (of the catherham) , but he bought the whole shebang . I guess buying the name truly was the whole reason.

  22. Hamilton isn’t the highest paid British sportsman. He’s a resident of Monaco and I doubt he’s the top paid Monaco Sportsman.

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