Breaking: F1 is DYING!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published December 8, 2008

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>breakingviews.com
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>F1 in need of an urgent overhaul

By UNA GALANI
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>FORMULA One faces a shrinking grid. Honda is quitting the F1 motor racing championship after 44 years in the sport. The exit of the Tokyo-based carmaker has a lot to do with the pain that it's taking in the rapidly deteriorating global car market. But it is also a worrying verdict on the economics of F1.

Honda's departure may not be a one-off. It could give beleaguered rivals such as Toyota and BMW Sauber an excuse to make tracks.
F1 is the world's most expensive sport. One reason for it is that performance is closely correlated to investment. Teams that can afford to splash out on the best engines, engineers and superstar drivers tend to take podium spots.
Honda put in a dismal performance last year - finishing ninth - in spite of having one the largest budgets at around 200 million euros (S$388 million).
True, Honda also made some mistakes. It shunned corporate sponsorship in favour of a self-funded environmental campaign, which cost it dearly. The top four teams - McLaren, Williams, Renault and Ferrari - are each understood to generate up to 40 million euros annually from deals with the likes of telecom giants Vodafone and AT&T, Dutch financial institution ING and the UAE's national carrier, Etihad.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Yet Honda's departure underscores the serious threat that the global financial crisis poses to the sport's future. All carmakers will be under shareholder pressure to review their F1 commitment after global car sales fell 45 per cent last month. Corporate sponsorships will also be aggressively renegotiated amid a crunch in global marketing spending.
F1 needs to adapt. The sport in its present form unduly favours teams such as Ferrari, which is supported by the cash-rich Abu Dhabi state-investment vehicle Mubadala. F1's governing body has already aired controversial suggestions such as introducing standard engines and capping team budgets. Such reforms would change the sport, but could also help level the playing field financially. Honda's departure should add some urgency to F1's thinking.
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[Leegimeremover]

It is indeed an honor to have watched the first and possibly the last F1 in Singapore while wining and dining with cheese and several bottles of vintage collection.

 

[Mohd_Ah_LEE]

PAP + LKY have the worst of ass luck. Anything that they touched will turn into ash and craps. Casino aka IR is the same Ferris Wheel the same. See Sands fucked? Sentosa's Genting's Lim Goh Tong died?

What happened to Thaksin & Shinawatra Corp? What happened to Indon satellite linked with Temasek? What happened to USA banks like AIG Citi etc etc.

All fucking died!

Any one or business that collaborated with LKY & PAP are all cursed and fucked up side down, nothing will be spared.

 

[singveld]

ah honda is small player

when ferrari quit F1, then page me.

 

[The_Latest_H]

As usual, the PAP invests in the absolute peak before its gonna fall. So much for shrewd judgment, eh?

 

[Buckethead]

I'm looking forward to MotoGP in singapore...


Adios...

 

[blackmore]

PAP + LKY have the worst of ass luck. Anything that they touched will turn into ash and craps. Casino aka IR is the same Ferris Wheel the same. See Sands fucked? Sentosa's Genting's Lim Goh Tong died?

What happened to Thaksin & Shinawatra Corp? What happened to Indon satellite linked with Temasek? What happened to USA banks like AIG Citi etc etc.

All fucking died!

Any one or business that collaborated with LKY & PAP are all cursed and fucked up side down, nothing will be spared.

Put it simply, the familee just do not have the business acumen. Any dealings with them usually end up stale or bust. Politicians may be good in politics but not necessary in business and not many can do both.

The receipe for disaster is when they think they are capable in managing both at the expense of the taxpayers. The track record has been proven.

What you have quoted is a short list, the past 25 years or so, there should be more on your list of failures by them.

 

[Leongsam]

Politicians may be good in politics but not necessary in business and not many can do both.

The problem with sinkiepoor is that those pappy politicians aren't any good at politics either!

 

[twinseeker]

The problem with sinkiepoor is that those pappy politicians aren't any good at politics either!

They're better at monopoly.

 

[Leongsam]

They're better at monopoly.

Their speciality is extortion!

 

[Ah Guan]

With the spiraling high costs and decreasing income, it is not unthinkable for F1 to die.

At this point in time even the Barclay's Premier League is in danger of going bust.

 

[Ah Guan]

Put it simply, the familee just do not have the business acumen. Any dealings with them usually end up stale or bust. Politicians may be good in politics but not necessary in business and not many can do both.

GIC should have bought over Liverpool

 

[theblackhole]

singapore is now experiencing very bad baxi and very bad fengshui...so better to keep a very low profile, keep our mouths shut and stop investing in dubious projects...surely going to dust once again...better pray hard that we don't sink further with the losses that had hit us so hard....bad times are ahead...and prepared yourself for the worst to come...don't say we did not warn you....be prepared!