Marussia post bigger loss than Lotus

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Back-of-the-grid team Marussia outstrip Lotus’s 2012 losses.

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Marussia positive about future despite record losses (The Times, subscription required)

“Accounts filed at the Stock Exchange will show that the British-based Marussia F1 squad lost a staggering £57.6 million last year, sneaking the record for financial losses from the Lotus team, who posted a deficit of £56 million in May.”

Grosjean must prove worth (Autosport)

“It is up to him. He did a good job in the last four races, nobody complains and I am happy, so he now needs to do the same, plus…”

Pastor Maldonado: The racer Hugo Chavez banked oil money on (CNN)

“After my victory last year became a very popular sport. We have two live TV channels so it’s getting bigger and bigger – which is why I have even more responsibility.”

Typhoon Headed for Korea (Chosun Ilbo)

“The 17th typhoon of the year will approach Korea and bring heavy rain to southern parts on Friday, the Korea Meteorological Administration forecast on Monday.”

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Comment of the day

Thoughts on Esteban Gutierrez’s progress from @GT-Racer:

I don’t think Gutierrez has been doing as badly as the perception tends to be.

Its true to say that he’s struggled in qualifying, But his race pace has generally been solid & he’s had a couple strong races where he was a bit unlucky not to get a higher position.

I still don’t understand some of the ‘pay driver’ criticism when it’s used as a way to suggest he has no business in F1.

He’s won races and championships in the lower categories, was third in the GP2 championship last year and was pretty highly rated throughout that junior career.

Bottas won the GP3 championship & everyone was raving about he deserved an F1 race seat last year, Gutierrez won the GP3 championship & people complained he’s not good enough for F1 when he was announced at Sauber for 2013.

Does Gutierrez bring money to Sauber, Yes but so did Perez (Same backing actually) & nobody complained about him when he joined Sauber in 2011.

The Sauber has clearly been a difficult car, Hulkenberg has got more out of it but you would expect an experienced driver to be able to figure out and adapt to the problems sooner than a rookie, Plus Nico is an exceptional driver (Who really should be in a top car by now).

Esteban is improving, I feel he deserves a second year by the end of which we’ll know exactly how good he is.
@GT-Racer

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On this day in F1

Alain Prost kept his championship hopes alive with victory in the Spanish Grand Prix 25 years ago today.

Nigel Mansell returned from illness and scored a strong second for Williams. With Alessandro Nannini’s Benetton third that kept a fuel-troubled Ayrton Senna off the podium.

But despite Prost leading the championship by five points, the ‘best 11 scores count’ rule meant a victory for Senna in either of the two remaining races would guarantee him the championship.

Here’s Senna and Mansell disputing second place during the race:

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39 comments on “Marussia post bigger loss than Lotus”

  1. I am always checking Ian Fergusson’s Twitter feed – https://twitter.com/fergieweather – for up to date F1 weather. It seems it will probably be raining on Sunday.

    1. I was given this HK site by a friend who frequents that part of the world.

      http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2013/Tropical-Storm-Fitow?map=5day

      At the moment the prediction map has typhoon Fitow 22w hitting Korea after 3PM JST (Japan Standard Time) which is +9 UTC (GMT). So just in time for FP3.

      1. The Weather Underground app shows an 80% chance of rain potentially up to 9cm on Sunday. RED FLAG!

        1. They won’t even get through the times race of 2hrs and 15mins. I think it will be more than 90ml as it will potentially be 120ml

  2. My comment was going to be “Why is Lewis still using a crappy Blackberry from a dying company instead of upgrading to a better Smartphone?” and then I remembered that Blackberry is one of the teams sponsors this year which now makes my question “How the heck can they afford to sponsor an F1 team with all the money problems they’re having?”. l0l

    1. Actually BlackBerry was swimming in cash up to last year with 20bn in cash.

      Their problem was missing two product cycles, not lack of resources.

    2. They kept aiming at the consumer market with high (but very naive) hopes with the Z10/Q10, but since their sales were pretty sour and consumer interest in their upcoming phones isn’t all that either, I think they’ll reconsider their position on F1 sponsoring. They have said to be considering a switch to Business-to-Business as opposed to consumers, for which F1 is still pretty suitable. (Remember a Consultancy firm appearing on Williams’ drivers helmets in the 90s.)

      However, just how terrible Blackberry are at actual marketing is shown by their non-coverage of Mercedes running BBM (Blackberry Messenger) logos at Singapore. I mean, if you hadn’t brought Blackberry up, I’d still be clueless what BBM was, but figured it might have been a B-to-B side of Blackberry..

      1. You are right. Blackberry will more than likely reconsider their commercial interest with Merc if they decide to ditch their consumer products. Some of the market analysts have suggested the only was that RIM can survive is if they ditch the consumer market and focus on their network solutions capabilities…a lot of flipping and flopping going on at RIM…the inevitable might happen soon.

      2. @npf1 That consultancy firm was Andersen Consulting, the company we now know as Accenture. They had the helmet chin sponsor spot until 2005, IIRC.

      3. Funnily enough, they were running the BBM logos because Blackberry just launched BBM on other platforms.

        1. The launch of which they predictably bungled, and has not been resumed since.

    3. Says a lot that Lewis can’t use his “BB”

    4. I’m not a fan of BlackBerry, but i quite enjoyed it when Alicia Keys was part of the latest phone launch and tweeted all about it… from her iphone.

      1. That was hilarious. Not the first time either, some footballer did the same to Samsung I think.

  3. It seems that F1 is not the only sport that greenpeace is targeting! Here’s a video that shows another protest at a champions league football match between Basel and Schalke

    1. The funny thing is, if someone set up a charity to fight the ways and actions of Greenpeace it would probably have more supporters than Greenpeace.

      I’m not against what they support, but how they do it is a different story. I think you will find the common man despises of Greenpeace whilst caring for the environment.

      1. They managed to get some of my attention towards exactly what Shell is doing in the arctic at the Belgian GP, only to appear on the news because they were automatically raising their members’ contribution a few weeks later. The problem is, small charities don’t get enough coverage or possibilities, but large charities basically become a huge bureaucratic organization that would make many governments look sleek, financially efficient and goal orientated..

        You’ve got to find the right charities, if that’s your thing.

  4. After my victory last year became a very popular sport. We have two live TV channels so it’s getting bigger and bigger – which is why I have even more responsibility.

    Yeah, you and Sergio Perez are both responsable for the return of the “let’s see why the latin american didn’t deliver” Fox Sports Latin Americ ancoverage, which was already rubbish in its own right. They are cooooooonstantly taking about why it’s a perfect scenario for one of them, and then, when Maldonado inevitably loses his front wing, they try to cover it up a bit.

    The only guy that have at the pitlane only talks to the latin guys. Doesn’t matter if Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber and Button all crash together in the first corner, they’ll never interview them live.

    It happened when Montoya was there too, but at least he won a race once in a while…

    I don’t blame broadcasters talking about their compatriot, but the latin american guys take it way too far. It was already unwatchable, now with that guy Chacho Lopez commenting on the race via Skype, live, it’s even worse.

    1. +1000!! For all of you european friends, be glad that you’re not tied to latin Fox Sports coverage! If my bandwith was faster, I’d watch an online stream of Sky F1 anytime.

      1. Yeah…folks in Europe are very lucky when it comes to F1 coverage…..luckily in Australia, we get the race feed from Sky, so its Martin and Crofty…but pre and post race coverage is very poor.

        1. Would you rather go back to the Channel 9 dark ages?

          At least now the races are live and we actually get full qualifying live, not just a 2 minute recap five minutes before the race starts.

          Remember when the 1997 Canadian GP was broadcast a full 24 hours after the race?

          1. No way as Channel 9 were hopeless and FOM should never go back there or even 7 and they should stick with Ten. Good point but I have a funny feeling about 2014 where One will broadcast the euro rounds live.

        2. The coverage in Australia is free to air, and yes there are 469 ad breaks during the race, but at least we are seeing it live. Channel 10 has been brilliant for F1 in Australia, and Beattie, AJ and Rusty don’t suck up anyone’s you know what, like James Allen did when Hamilton came into F1. Mein Gott, James Allen was like a labrador slobbering over a bone!
          And @william I hope you’re right, One should do the same for F1 as it does the MotoGP races.

          1. I am sure Ten are making a profit from this as they don’t want this Motorsport to slip through their fingers. Indeed as I watch every race live on One or Ten. This is their excuse that not all Australians don’t have access to One. But people will next year, so there is no excuse whatsoever. The reason as to why One broadcasts MotoGP because there is no Casey. Watch this space

    2. Man you’re spot on! a couple of years ago I was quite happy with Fox Sports showing F1 because when I compared it with Speed’s coverage in the US (which I visit regularly) it was much much better.

      But indeed it’s been going downhill for a while now, sure there’s more hours than before with practice sessions etc, but there’s more commercials and those commentators who talk complete gibberish who are incredibly biased, I would say as much as in Spanish tv (and that’s saying a lot).

    3. @fer-no65 Agree… I´m about the break something for every “Chacho” in the transmition horrible!!!!!

      And when in the middle of the race, podium or post race interview they cut to Perez or Gutiérrez or Maldonado (and sometimes Massa) is the worst…

      1. Not to be confrontational, But foxsports have also had regular interviews with Nico Rosberg in spanish (quite clear, thank you very much ) and at times Adrian Sutil, it feels like foxsports latin america tend to speaks to drivers acording to the twiter and facebook requests, as for the race comentators is a matter of opinion, I think they do a very decent job.
        here is a link of one of the fox sports interviews to Nico Rosberg in spanish right after monaco this year
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raNcJuT5amY
        Note>> I do not defend foxsports or justify them I get the races trought them, all thought I have watched the same races trought US public and cable tv just to compare and they are not bad either, could the spanish program benefit from a more detailed and technical commentary as they do in european tv? It would be great! but for most latin american viewers it might as well be in latin as most race fans expect a drivers championship like they had during champcar days, than the technically sofisticated, politically charged, hugely expensive, complex world of formula one as it is today, in my view latin americans think of racing as they think of football, it all comes down to the match in the field. you dive in to the game with faith alone, explanations are conmiserations or supporting reasons, and become necessary for closure or celebration, hence the inmediate opinion of the drivers or commentators, as soon as they become available, after the race people has already moved on their expectations to the next date. I’d say it is a very casual approach to entetainment, with special admiration to the drivers that take the time to talk to the latin american public, not being latin american.
        Also, there is more passion for details among “team fans” than “driver fans” for sure.

  5. So in the end for Lewis it came down to either driving the MP4-28, or having a Blackberry.

    Smart move.

  6. I tweeted this yesterday.

    https://twitter.com/stevensanPH/status/384948101435252736/photo/1

    This was yesterdays GFS typhoon prediction for Saturday afternoon. The various models are currently split between it turning east or continuing North. If it goes North, it is likely to be around the Korean peninsula over the weekend. Currently, the majority of the models have it going North, including GFS who have been the most accurate so far this year.

    1. So what do you reckon is it going to hit qualifying and race

  7. A 57.6 million deficit on a budget of what, 60 million? You have to wonder how Marussia will be around if they are drowning in debt like that.

    1. It’s hideous, sin’t it?
      I haven’t read recently whether the Sauber deal with the Russians is on or off. With the Marussia loses, Lotus losses and possible Sauber problems, plus rocketing engine costs . . . eight teams next year?

      1. @timothykatz

        Sauber is safe, they have the deal with the Russians. Genii probably want to sell Toloman/Bennetton/Renault/Lotus to another owner. Marussia may leave soon and I suspect they are only being kept alive by the money from Max Chilton. If they left that would make 10 teams, which is as low as I want to see the grid get, although Bernie would be happy with that.

        1. @full-throttle-f1
          Thanks, I wasn’t sure if the Sauber deal had been done.

        2. Jack (@jackisthestig)
          2nd October 2013, 14:59

          For all the money that Chilton is supposed to bring to the team, I still haven’t spotted an AON logo the car yet.

  8. petebaldwin (@)
    2nd October 2013, 8:54

    So over £100 million loss between Caterham and Marussia and what do they have to show for it? Surely it’s going to come to a head if they don’t make a step forward with the rule changes?

    1. ……hes going to die soon. If someones going to challenge F1 now is the time!

  9. I always defended backmarker teams because of the role they play in developing new talent and showcasing it to the bigger teams. But given the current financial mess of F1, these teams are now taking on drivers purely based on the amount of cash they bring with them. The single purpose of the backmarker team is completely negated. What’s the point of them if they’ll never take a step forward, and never employ a driver who’ll have a chance in a proper team?

    I feel sad to say it, but I wouldn’t miss Marussia and Caterham if they disappeared. I certainly don’t miss HRT.

    1. I’d miss Caterham. They’re investing in my home town , Dieppe, to revive the ‘Alpine’ Brand and work with Renault Sports. That’s a huge relief for that little town , and a very sufficient reason to support them in my case !

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