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The $8 million road to F1


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#1 Prost1997T

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 13:37

http://raconteur.net...-to-formula-one

 

 

“I’ve had offers from a number of top teams, including Red Bull and Ferrari, to go on their junior schemes, but I still had to provide some money,” says Evans. “Every driver, whether it’s Carlos, whether it’s Daniel, it doesn’t matter who it is, they still have to bring some money and it is probably more than meets the eye. And those are guys who come from wealthy families so it’s not an issue but I don’t have that option. A lot of driver development schemes are smoke and mirrors in terms of the drivers paying to be there. They are paying through the roof to be there. So a lot of it is just about getting a foot in an F1 team in a roundabout way.”

 

So junior programs are no golden ticket.
 

“If somebody is talented, very talented, you probably need to spend €1 million in karting through junior, senior and international races,” says Wolff.

...

So you are talking about €7 million to €8 million so let’s call it $8 million. It’s not possible to bring that cost down because it has become a business so you need to have a sugar daddy or a rich daddy.”

 

Helmut Marko must have been pleased that he didn't have to spend that much on Max Verstappen :D



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#2 Risil

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 13:41

Good, if worrying, article. :up: It'd be interesting to know what the comparable figures are for a competitor to reach MotoGP or NASCAR.


Edited by Risil, 03 September 2015 - 13:42.


#3 JHSingo

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 13:57

Kind of what we knew already. F1 is unattainable for the majority of drivers, even the most talented ones.

 

'Best drivers in the world' my arse. :p



#4 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 13:58

I think he's under-quoting F3 and GP2 a bit...

 

I think you can run reasonably comeptitively in Moto3 for like 500-750k and Moto2 for about 1.5m? With much better TV deals...

 

NASCAR Nationwide is probably 5mil+ for a season. Wouldn't surprise me if it was 7 or 8...



#5 RedBaron

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 14:30

I think the road to Formula 1 is going to change vastly over the next 10 years with the development of home simulators. Families won't need millions in the bank to allow their children to pursue a racing career.

 

As far as I am aware Jann Mardenborough the Playstation GT Academy winner didn't spend any money on lower formula or karting. (He has raced in other series, but nothing prior to his GT Academy win in 2011) He lines up on the GP2 grid this weekend aged 23.

 

I think computer games will be part of the road to Formula 1 or any other top level motorsport in the coming years. Home consoles and racing sim set-ups have become far more advanced and are widely available at low prices (very low compared to funding a real life karting/lower formula career around the UK or Europe)

 

A full blown sim setup would cost you around £33k and require a fair bit of space, but that's soon to be history. With the launch of Oculus Rift next year kids won't need a huge X thousand pounds TV set up (or a TV at all) in order to get a seamless 360 degree immersed racing experience. A single seater racing cockpit including pedals/wheel is under £1k. True simulator games like iRacing and rFactor (and probably others) cost very little.

 

Of course I'm not suggesting everyone with a home simulator would be good enough or real life karting experience will be nullified but with competitions such as the GT Academy whittling down the best of the best online racers, surely a handful would emerge who could translate that talent to real life. 



#6 Risil

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 14:39

I think he's under-quoting F3 and GP2 a bit...

 

I think you can run reasonably comeptitively in Moto3 for like 500-750k and Moto2 for about 1.5m? With much better TV deals...

 

NASCAR Nationwide is probably 5mil+ for a season. Wouldn't surprise me if it was 7 or 8...

 

Yeah. Just anecdotally, in motorcycle racing many riders seem to come from the business-owning Dad type, but not necessarily the loaded-with-cash Chilton kind.

 

F1 and NASCAR don't really have a Red Bull Rookies equivalent afaik, where cash-strapped young riders do what's essentially an auditioned, heavily-subsidized arrive-and-ride series within the GP weekend. It's not exactly produced the next generation of stars but it's put a lot of names into the Moto3/Moto2 orbit that wouldn't otherwise have been there.


Edited by Risil, 03 September 2015 - 14:39.


#7 rhukkas

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 14:52

I think the road to Formula 1 is going to change vastly over the next 10 years with the development of home simulators. Families won't need millions in the bank to allow their children to pursue a racing career.

 

As far as I am aware Jann Mardenborough the Playstation GT Academy winner didn't spend any money on lower formula or karting. (He has raced in other series, but nothing prior to his GT Academy win in 2011) He lines up on the GP2 grid this weekend aged 23.

 

I think computer games will be part of the road to Formula 1 or any other top level motorsport in the coming years. Home consoles and racing sim set-ups have become far more advanced and are widely available at low prices (very low compared to funding a real life karting/lower formula career around the UK or Europe)

 

A full blown sim setup would cost you around £33k and require a fair bit of space, but that's soon to be history. With the launch of Oculus Rift next year kids won't need a huge X thousand pounds TV set up (or a TV at all) in order to get a seamless 360 degree immersed racing experience. A single seater racing cockpit including pedals/wheel is under £1k. True simulator games like iRacing and rFactor (and probably others) cost very little.

 

Of course I'm not suggesting everyone with a home simulator would be good enough or real life karting experience will be nullified but with competitions such as the GT Academy whittling down the best of the best online racers, surely a handful would emerge who could translate that talent to real life. 

 

While sim racing is the future of motorsport to a large extent, you will need to spend millions if you want to get to F1. Sim racers are brilliant drivers and can often replicate it in reality, but it's not like F1 teams are lining up to fund these guys into real racing. No matter how good Greggor Huttu is, he isn't going to be putting food on the table of car racing team mechanics is he?

The money still has to be there to do F3 etc... You will still need vast amounts of real experience and no one will give that away for free. Nothing will change. It's only going to get worse.

No one is spending money on karting to get a free drive in cars. Karting isn't for spotting talent. That doesn't happen any more. It's just for rich idiots to price everyone out of the market

 


Edited by rhukkas, 03 September 2015 - 14:54.


#8 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:00

I don't like it, but I find it hard to be outraged because it's always been for the well off. In the article here about Justin Wilson's early career it mentions how Formula Palmer Audi only cost him 80k in 1998 vs F3 at 400k.

 

And 80k is a great deal for racing. For racing.

 

It's still 80k.

 

Hands up how many of us can get their hands on that kind of cash, not linked to a home loan?

 

And that's for one year.



#9 aportinga

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:02

So in all, motorsport - in the absence of corporate sponsors and the failure to control/bring down costs, has pushed that cost on to the drivers.

 

And the worst part is that drivers with greater potential but less money have no shot at all.

 

As Ross states - it's nothing new however the part where I still just don't get is that there have been no MAJOR cost cutting mandates deployed to get motorsport (F1/ICS) to a level that reflects ROI.

 

Frankly I've loved motorsport for 25 years of my life - I'll always go to RA as much as I can but if it all went away tomorrow, I don't really know how much I'd miss it - if at all.


Edited by aportinga, 03 September 2015 - 15:09.


#10 Jimisgod

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:07

Kind of what we knew already. F1 is unattainable for the majority of drivers, even the most talented ones.

 

'Best drivers in the world' my arse. :p

 

22 of the best 200 drivers on earth may be truer but it isn't as catchy. :p

 

In tennis and golf qualifiers frequently strike it lucky by getting through a major or even winning it and then become regular leaders.

 

Look at other sports since 2000...

  • 19 women and 18 men were winners from 63 tennis grand slams for each gender (4 a year). So around 1 in 3.5 tournaments has a different winner.
  • 36 men were winners from 64 golf grand slams (4 a year). 1 in 1.77 tournaments has a different winner.

But in F1...

  • 20 winners from 281 races (16-20 a year). 1 in 14 races has a different winner.

F1 could never, ever support 128 starters like in a tennis tournament. However it's foolish to think F1 is anywhere near as equal opportunity as other sports.



#11 Nathan

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:22

Sounds the the junior formulae need large prize packages.



#12 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:23

http://www.bloomberg...t-tennis-player



#13 OO7

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:28

I don't like it, but I find it hard to be outraged because it's always been for the well off. In the article here about Justin Wilson's early career it mentions how Formula Palmer Audi only cost him 80k in 1998 vs F3 at 400k.

 

And 80k is a great deal for racing. For racing.

 

It's still 80k.

 

Hands up how many of us can get their hands on that kind of cash, not linked to a home loan?

 

And that's for one year.

I can, but Nationwide, Lloyds, Barclays, Halifax etc won't like my methods.



#14 aportinga

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:41

Great link - thanks!

 

Love that they also mention 631!



#15 rhukkas

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 15:59

 

Some are spending over £300,000 in one year of junior karting alone. Tennis is cheap.



#16 August

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 16:20

For comparison in the Mazda Road to Indy, the champion gets a scholarship package from Mazda to advance from USF2000 to Pro Mazda and from Pro Mazda to Indy Lights. The Lights champion gets $750,000 scholarship toward the Verizon IndyCar Series with three guaranteed races including the Indianapolis 500.



#17 jonpollak

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 16:30

Hell August...That's some value huh !!

Jp



#18 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 16:44

I want to see how that works out. 750k will barely pay for the Indy500, what's covering the other two?


Edited by Ross Stonefeld, 03 September 2015 - 16:44.


#19 Fastcake

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 16:56

Sounds the the junior formulae need large prize packages.

 

Probably, but the only money in motorsport is in F1, and they don't seem keen on sharing.

 

A sizeable reduction in costs is also needed. There's really no need to spend millions on karting for goodness sake.



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#20 BullHead

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:02

As said, it's the way it's always been. The rich race cars, the rest watch.



#21 ElJefe

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:07

I think there are only a handful of F1 drivers throughout history that come from modest backgrounds. I can think of Arnoux, Mansell, Verstappen, Schumacher and that's more or less it. 



#22 MNader

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:14

just to drop something here.

 

The cheapest event in a Formula one weekend is Porsche Supercup. and that costs 30K euros per weekend for the drivers. so in total that is around 240K euros for a season. Excluding damages to the car, which in supercup can add up to around 20-30K

 

so lets say that for 11 30min races these drivers are paying 1/4 of a million.

 

and as i said this is the cheapest thing to happen in an F1 weekend



#23 OvDrone

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:17

8 mil? I thought it could even be twice that.

 

 

Still goddamn ludicrous.



#24 BullHead

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:19

A huge part of any aspiring driver's skill though is marketing his talent. He has to be a businessman to feed his ambition. There's been countless threads on this and sponsorship. There are a few drivers I beleive that made their money and success through businesscraft and not just family wealth



#25 Stephane

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:47

That's a part of the sport where tobacco companies are truly missed.



#26 chunder27

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:49

All Mardenborough has proved is that a person with a modicm of ability to play a sim well (and he was by no way the fastest person in the final, as has been indicated here before, he just fitted their profile the best) has a chance of being able to hold his own at a level below the top level.

 

He has had hundreds of thousands of dollars thrown at him by Sony, Nissan and various other poeple to make him look good.

 

He is quick no doubt, but largely unproven at the top level. Simiarly to Ordonez.

 

When Huttu went to the USA they said it was obvious he knew what he was doing in a car and how to lap quickly, but he was no faster than anyone else. Plus he got terribly car sick, something I have experienced myself in a race car.

 

All SONY are doing is actually discrediting karting, junior formulae and the decades of time served experience that brings.  The GT Academy guys are no better or worse than you or I, we just have not had the training, focus, development thrown at us that they have. They just have the patience to keep repeating something thousands of times to make sure they get it right, as that is all you need to do to be quick in the GT Academy events on the Playstation.

 

Is that really where you think the worlds next F1 champion is coming from?  Do the Army recruit the best CoD players?  Lol



#27 rhukkas

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 17:59

Probably, but the only money in motorsport is in F1, and they don't seem keen on sharing.

 

A sizeable reduction in costs is also needed. There's really no need to spend millions on karting for goodness sake.

 

There is a good reason... price out your competitors. If you can makes sure little Johnny Talent's dad runs out of money before you get to cars then you're in a good place to show your kid off. 

 

They don't even know they're doing it.



#28 zanquis

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 18:20

Well I dunno but I feel that both Verstappen's managed to get into F1 on a much cheaper budget.

 

His dad did well and only needed 3 racing series to get into F1, giving his background his father could not have spend much, and in single seaters he had a good deal with marlboro, he just blew it by signing for Benetton who was sponsored by the competitor. I think if he stayed with marlboro got his head in a testing role at McLaren he would have also gotten his change and in a better team to learn and grow.But ah well bad life choices.

 

That being said, for Max always had the equipment his dad did not always have. And his Dad had all the contacts to open doors for him, and in karting the combination of his talent landing him a good karting sponsorship and his dad to basically prepare the kart for free was enough. I am sure he spend money to get him into F1 but not nearly close to the 8m. Despite the author claiming that amount can not be brought down.



#29 RedBaron

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 18:50

All Mardenborough has proved is that a person with a modicm of ability to play a sim well (and he was by no way the fastest person in the final, as has been indicated here before, he just fitted their profile the best) has a chance of being able to hold his own at a level below the top level.

 

He has had hundreds of thousands of dollars thrown at him by Sony, Nissan and various other poeple to make him look good.

 

He is quick no doubt, but largely unproven at the top level. Simiarly to Ordonez.

 

When Huttu went to the USA they said it was obvious he knew what he was doing in a car and how to lap quickly, but he was no faster than anyone else. Plus he got terribly car sick, something I have experienced myself in a race car.

 

All SONY are doing is actually discrediting karting, junior formulae and the decades of time served experience that brings.  The GT Academy guys are no better or worse than you or I, we just have not had the training, focus, development thrown at us that they have. They just have the patience to keep repeating something thousands of times to make sure they get it right, as that is all you need to do to be quick in the GT Academy events on the Playstation.

 

Is that really where you think the worlds next F1 champion is coming from?  Do the Army recruit the best CoD players?  Lol

 

Mardenborough may have not been the outright fastest, they had a series of other tests such as fitness too, for example. You would still need to be the complete package. Like you said Huttu got car sick, so his ability doesn't translate.

 

I don't agree they are simply the best because they have the patience to repeat the same thing over and over. 

 

I get what you're saying about CoD and that's an amusing comment   ;) but not really a fair comparison. After all F1 teams have simulators and drivers spend hundreds of hours on them preparing for the next race, so simulations have got to mean something or teams wouldn't spend their money and many hours working with them. As technology advances and it becomes easier to have similar tech in your own home, surely it becomes a viable source for talent after a process of elimination. 

I think competitive sim racing will be a potential route into motorsport, be it at the top level or below that. Like I said maybe not now but sometime down the line. I don't think it devalues anything, if the talent is out there does it matter how you find it? Surely if someone is talented that's all that matters once the lights go out.


Edited by RedBaron, 03 September 2015 - 18:52.


#30 Cloxxki

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 19:28

Could insiders shed some light on how the recent F1 rookies and notable non-rich drivers got here, financially?
Did Max take money to Van Amersfoort? Private (loan?), corporate, or sponsored?

It seems he's not paying STR, but being paid. It seems in his case, his talent did get noticed already in karts. I read about it at least, and there are reports he got approached by some F1 teams for association deals.

I can imagine Jos invested a good part of his modest capital in keeping Max's karts up to speed. They were not on works teams, right? How does that work financially? And there were prizes won in karting, surely? Could someone at that level break even after all expenses, and have a roof over their heads? Or did sponsors have a  big part in that?

 

If Hamiltons is from humble beginnings, did he score sponsors to get himself through car series? Surely dad's extra jobs didn't cover more than some karting?

Those who get to F1 spending 8million, how do they source it? And how do I get a piece of that? :-)

Thanks for your insights.



#31 TheManAlive

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 19:29

I think there are only a handful of F1 drivers throughout history that come from modest backgrounds. I can think of Arnoux, Mansell, Verstappen, Schumacher and that's more or less it. 

 

Dont forget Hamilton. He came from a modest background.



#32 jjcale

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 19:50

Sounds the the junior formulae need large prize packages.

 

And better marketing - Its more fun to watch than F1 sometimes .... it could get viewers on its own.



#33 anneomoly

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 19:50

8 mil? I thought it could even be twice that.

 

 

Still goddamn ludicrous.

 

It can - 8 million was the bare minimum for someone who's only spending a season at each level, and can get an F1 drive as soon as they're ready with a team that only wants a few million.



#34 jjcale

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 19:51

Dont forget Hamilton. He came from a modest background.

SV as well



#35 king_crud

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 21:08

I think there are only a handful of F1 drivers throughout history that come from modest backgrounds. I can think of Arnoux, Mansell, Verstappen, Schumacher and that's more or less it. 

 

Yep, you've nailed it, throughout history they're the only ones. There's pretty much no others. In history.  :rolleyes:



#36 SR388

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 21:15

I think there are only a handful of F1 drivers throughout history that come from modest backgrounds. I can think of Arnoux, Mansell, Verstappen, Schumacher and that's more or less it.


Lewis came from a very modest background. His father had to work two or three jobs to fund his early career.

#37 Watkins74

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 21:17

It's expensive but more people have serious cash than people tend to realize. Go to any marina and ask how much those large boats costs to buy and maintain. I live in a small rural town and my neighbors across the street have houses on the lake worth over a million of which half are second homes.Just turn on your TV and see some dude drop a $100,000 on a muscle car without blinking an eye at these auctions. There is barely a middle class in the US just really rich ****'s and people living paycheck to paycheck.

 

....or you can find a wealthy personal sponsor like Jp.



#38 Ricciardo2014

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 21:17

Webber has often spoken about the struggles he had raising enough cash to get to Europe, let alone F1.

If not for Yellow Pages, Davis Campese's loan and some astute deals made by Anne he would never have stood a chance.

 

Then of course Stoddard most likely took a risk on a fellow Aussie over other choices.

 

I must admit I like the idea of the cash strapped underdog managing to make it to the top, but those days are long gone, and have been for a while it would seem.

 

As far as the cost of Karting, I've been involved in commentating for over 25 years here in Aus.

One thing that stands out is the kids that have progressed to senior categories such as V8 Supercar, and done well, are almost all the ones who had some pretty heavy backing in Karts.

 

I could name 5 or 6 current V8 guys who used to turn up with proper transporters and 2 or 3 cars of spares and support to Karting events.

The kids with no cash could pull off a few wins, but really stood no chance.

 

I even know of one young fella named Neil Mcfadyen who, against the odds basically won every Karting class he entered, went on to win the Aus Formula Ford Champ', The ADC, Mini Challenge, Australian Sports Car Series, had drives lined up for Bathurst and V8 Supercars, and almost secured a trip to Europe to compete in F3.

 

But he never quite made it.

 

Why ?

 

His Dad ran out of cash, and several sponsors fell through  :(

He had a Bathurst drive lined up, but another driver wrote the car off the week before and that was pretty much the final nail in the coffin.

 

I know the family, not well enough to quote how much they spent, but it was considerable.

 

What I'm trying to say is with a huge amount of talent, even 15 years ago if you didn't have the cash you didn't go further, so it's nothing new.



#39 rhukkas

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 21:27

Could insiders shed some light on how the recent F1 rookies and notable non-rich drivers got here, financially?
Did Max take money to Van Amersfoort? Private (loan?), corporate, or sponsored?
It seems he's not paying STR, but being paid. It seems in his case, his talent did get noticed already in karts. I read about it at least, and there are reports he got approached by some F1 teams for association deals.
I can imagine Jos invested a good part of his modest capital in keeping Max's karts up to speed. They were not on works teams, right? How does that work financially? And there were prizes won in karting, surely? Could someone at that level break even after all expenses, and have a roof over their heads? Or did sponsors have a big part in that?

If Hamiltons is from humble beginnings, did he score sponsors to get himself through car series? Surely dad's extra jobs didn't cover more than some karting?

Those who get to F1 spending 8million, how do they source it? And how do I get a piece of that? :-)
Thanks for your insights.


Max's dad is ex-F1. While montarily speaking they may not have sunk 8m... in terms of the value of having an ex-F1 and world class karting tuner is probably in that region. People spend big to have the kind of network Jos has. So while Max is another level talent wise he is not an example of someone 'poor' making it big. Also karting has no prize money. Its alllll spend.

Lewis Hamilton was right driver right time. He was part of the Martin Hines generation. He is dead so dont expect any more working class hero stories. Rowland might be the last of that generation. The way karting is now.... its gone mental.

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#40 chunder27

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 22:03

Lewsi fitted the same criteria as Jann

 

And the same criteria as female racing drivers.

 

Far more easy to amrket and raise PR, interest and column inches for.

 

It is that simple really. 



#41 jonpollak

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 22:17

It's expensive but more people have serious cash than people tend to realize. Go to any marina and ask how much those large boats costs to buy and maintain. I live in a small rural town and my neighbors across the street have houses on the lake worth over a million of which half are second homes.Just turn on your TV and see some dude drop a $100,000 on a muscle car without blinking an eye at these auctions. There is barely a middle class in the US just really rich ****'s and people living paycheck to paycheck.

 

....or you can find a wealthy personal sponsor like Jp.

 


Don't start. I'm tapped out these days.

#42 loki

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 22:32

I think he's under-quoting F3 and GP2 a bit...

 

I think you can run reasonably comeptitively in Moto3 for like 500-750k and Moto2 for about 1.5m? With much better TV deals...

 

NASCAR Nationwide is probably 5mil+ for a season. Wouldn't surprise me if it was 7 or 8...

You can run a competitive Xfinity season for under $5mil.  Those are Cup team running Xfinity numbers.  Many of the Xfinity only teams can run full time efforts for $50k a weekend.  For a couple mil you can run a good truck season.



#43 Tenmantaylor

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Posted 03 September 2015 - 22:41

How many world karting champions went on to win F1 races or championships? A couple won races (Patrese, Trulli) but the likes of Liuzzi and van der Garde didn't fair well in F1. With 40 years of evidence against it I'd argue sim racing can be every bit as good a validation of a driver's ability. Yes, the physicality is unproven but most people could reach the fitness levels required to drive an F1 car with some effort but not many people have the dexterity, skill and attitude to be a top racing driver. Even many of the fastest drivers are poor racers. The best example being a karting World Champion No less...

#44 Jimisgod

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 06:57

Lewis came from a very modest background. His father had to work two or three jobs to fund his early career.

 

How early did McLaren come calling?



#45 Kalmake

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 07:45

Dont forget Hamilton. He came from a modest background.

Well, what is a modest background? There have been plenty of drivers who come from working or middle class families.



#46 rhukkas

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 08:01

How many world karting champions went on to win F1 races or championships? A couple won races (Patrese, Trulli) but the likes of Liuzzi and van der Garde didn't fair well in F1. With 40 years of evidence against it I'd argue sim racing can be every bit as good a validation of a driver's ability. Yes, the physicality is unproven but most people could reach the fitness levels required to drive an F1 car with some effort but not many people have the dexterity, skill and attitude to be a top racing driver. Even many of the fastest drivers are poor racers. The best example being a karting World Champion No less...

 

How many GP2/F3000 champions went on to win championships/races. Not many at all prior and post Hamilton. 



#47 chunder27

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 08:15

I think its obvious that being good in F1 does not bear much relatikn to being amazing in karting or amything else.

Button was beaten in F3 by Marc Hynes, Verstappen was beaten in karting by a British lad regularly who has no money, Senna greatest rival he says was Terry Fullerton who stayed his life in karts.

Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, and lots of others all had a leg up byt did enough to prove their worth, but in the cold light DID take drives away from your Hynes type character.

Sim gaming has no relevance, it transfers track knowledge and the basic motor skills, nothing more, its a tool.

#48 sopa

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 09:07

Some good discussion here.

 

It's still 80k.

 

Hands up how many of us can get their hands on that kind of cash, not linked to a home loan?

 

And that's for one year.

 

I can't, but I don't mind. :) I can enjoy observing all this racing driver career stuff from the outside .:) Plus based on a few karting experinces I know I am utterly talentless in this thing anyway. Lol.



#49 chrisPB15

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 09:48

Lewis came from a very modest background. His father had to work two or three jobs to fund his early career.

 

His father was an IT contractor earning more in 1 day than most people do in 1 week. Not to mention he would have put some of Lewis's expenses through as Tax deductible. I've known a few people with business who put race fees down as 'advertising'.

 

Lewis was given a racing Kart and related equipment for a Christmas present aged 8. Several thousand pounds £ worth and I thought some Lego Star Wars sets were out of Christmas present league.


Edited by chrisPB15, 04 September 2015 - 11:29.


#50 Fisico54

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 09:55

His father was an IT contractor earning more in 1 day than most people do in 1 week. Not to mention he would have put some of Lewis's expenses through as Tax deductible. I've known a few people with business who put race fees down as 'advertising'.
.

That's a myth to try and make out Lewis had a silver spoon upbringing. His dad was a standard middle management level IT contractor nothing special and nothing massively lucrative