re: 2022 Formula 1 Season Thread

KMag and Ilott would have to be released from their contracts and their seasons have already started

Fittipaldi did well when he replaced GRO, and Gio is a known commodity

Plus Ferrari will get a big seat at the table after all they've invested at HAAS

Gio would be a safe bet for Haas, now that their next driver won’t have the financial backing of Mazepin I think they need to go with someone that has experience in an F1 car. They can’t risk a second rookie racking up more repair bills is he isn’t personally paying for it. He probably won’t get you any points, but he can bring some finances to the table and wont be a net negative financially.

I also will admit, I don’t know anything about the other potential drivers.

Here is an article with Gene Haas from over the weekend...

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-business-sports-las-vegas-6f400d2325deef5bf9b31e9b088d9d1e

quote:

---

But just because Haas said Fittipaldi will be in the car in Bahrain, that does not mean he’ll be teammates this year with Mick Schumacher. Haas last season overhauled his lineup with rookies Mazepin and Schumacher, the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher.

Haas’ business plan allowed for a difficult 2021 season — Mazepin and Schumacher were at the back of the grid nearly every time on the track — but the introduction of a new car and an improved engine this season could make the team more competitive. The Haas organization also believes the 22-year-old Schumacher can be a global superstar.

“I think we’re looking. I think we’d obviously like to get someone with a bit more actual experience,” Haas told the AP. “We just have to see what’s available.”

---

quote:

---

Haas also insisted that his CNC company has always been the primary source of sponsorship for the F1 team and that Uralkali was only “the title sponsor” in 2021 when both F1 cars were branded in the colors of the Russian flag. The Haas team last month scrambled to remove the Uralkali branding from its cars when Russia invaded Ukraine at the same time F1 was testing in Barcelona.

(snip)

“Haas has always been the major, primary sponsor, I don’t know why people said it became a Russian team. Haas Automation was always on the car,” he said.

He has dumped Uralkali but said the team is fine. Haas also co-owns a top NASCAR team with Tony Stewart.

“We’re good. We’re fine. We’d like more money, of course, but we’re fine,” he said. “This just gives us a bigger negative number.”

---

quote:

---

Also, Haas was shite last year, but when they initially came in they were competitive. I have no doubts Gene can put together a competitive team, but finding the path comes with errors.

---

I was gonna say, because Haas has never had good sponsorship, I figured they must have the lowest budget and that would explain them lingering at the bottom. But I did a search and found that their budget is right in the mix in the bottom half of the list:

F1 team budgets 2017 - 2018 - 2019

Mercedes $352.1M $400M $484M
Ferrari $295.3M $410M $463M
Red Bull $284M $310M $445M
Alpine $195.4M $190M $272M
McLaren $240.8M $220M $269M
Aston Martin $117M $120M $188M
Haas $130.6M $130M $173M
Williams $136.3M $150M $141M
AlphaTauri $130.6M $150M $138M
Alfa Romeo $123.8M $135M $132M

(Note that I saw some discrepancy between sites, one site had the Williams and Alfa Romeo 2019 numbers swapped)

AlphaTauri looks like an overachiever, but maybe their budget went up significantly in 2020-2021.

I would say Haas is definitely underachieving, and not just in developing a fast car. There's no excuse for all the mistakes they make. Haas is an experienced race team owner, but it seems like they still don't have good quality control management.

Well it’s known they are a bunch of fricking wankers.

quote:

---

$484M

---

Wow.

It would be very interesting to see the internal ROI study at Mercedes, and the rest of the teams also.

The teams are. Think he is talking about the ROI on title sponsorship.

Merc puts a lot of money into racing sponsorships, hell they are one of the major sponsors of F1 overall.

Got the email! I can order my F1 US Gran Prix 3-day tickets tomorrow, starting at 10:00am.

Sat halfway up in Turn 12 last year, section 6. Might move somewhere else this year. All ticket prices are higher than last year's prices.

F1 tickets COTA

Which turn is the TD crowd going to? Too bad there's not a Turn 350.

**Update - Back to Turn 12, Section 6, but all the way to the top row this year. Tried to get Turn 1, but those sold out quickly or was unable to get 4 seats together.

quote:

---

I always thought K Mag wasn’t terrible. Isn’t he available?

---

Called it!


Sort of.

K Mag back

Understand the decision, but hoped they would have gotten Hulk