ColorChange

This should be great news for getting a US F1 driver (Scott Speed or Colin Flemming?) in F1 soon.

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html

M758

Good news, but what does that mean for Sauber?

JCP911S

I guess they will put an underfunded effort together and finish at the back of the back now.... oh.... wait...

BTW... estimate on annual cost for Jag team... $120M a year, and they weren't even sniffing a podium... wonder what Ferrari, McLaren, and Williams spend.... ouch and a half...

Wanted... large corporation that desires to **** away huge amounts of money for no measurable return... apply here....

I guess if you are not trying to sell cigarettes to China, Japan, Indonesia, Malasia.... etc... you can;t afford it.

Mike in Chi

JCP

The word is Ferrari was given an unlimited budget.

And exceeded it.

APKhaos

Outstanding move! Red Bull has the funding AND the ba!!s to make this a success. May not beat the red cars, but it will be a serious campaign.

Also interesting that the Champ Seies co-owners have bought Cosworth. Much harder to guess what that means for Cosworth going forward.

BTW, it was surprising to see the number of puff pieces on Mark Webber on F1 Live. Training with Lance Armstrong, etc. Mark is being seen as a potential contender, or he has a super publicist, or both.

JCP911S

Champ car is like that old SNL running skit about Franco still being seriously dead... shame as it is probably still the best OW series... but when your national TV contrack is on Spike... Pullheess.

Exceptions like Shumacher aside, there are more top drivers than top drives.... MS is a once a generation driver not only in the cockpit, but setup and team leadership... Ferrari was a shambles before he came on... you have to give him alot of credit as a leader as well as a hotshoe driver.

But for most, you could pop any four or five of these guys in any car and get the same results.

Bill_C4S

F1 Racing provided detailed buildups of the team budgets for '04, if memory serves Ferrari and Toyota topped at ~$400 mln each

FormulaOne10

I heard something similar Bill...The word was that Toyota was the top spender with Ferrari close behind. Makes me wonder where they will be in a few years.

Flying Finn

Good to hear 10 teams are now confirmed and uncertainity (whether some teams have to drive three cars) is gone.

Red Bull won't be a contender with Cosworth engines but with their money, in few years, they can become one.

Their driver's for the next year will almost sure be Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi, with Speed as a test driver (being full time F1 is too soon for him but 06 season is a different matter if he proves he can handle F1).
Getting US driver in F1 should increase people's interest in US but he needs to be top contender, hopefully that happens soon.

This s=is bad news for Sauber but as a "Blue Ferrari" they'll do ok, especially now when they are Michelin team, I'm sure they will provide information for Ferrari & Bridgestone...

JCP911S,

No doubt Schumi is a great driver but biggest credit for getting Ferrari "back in track" goes to J. Todt, he organized the whole re-do of Ferrari, was able to get Schumi in and IMO even more importanly, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne (Schumi has never won WDC without these two F1 geniuses).

Bill is correct, Ferrari's budget was $400 million (between $300 - 400 million depending who you ask), compare that to Minardi's $40 million and it's not hard to see why Minardi is a bit slower than Ferrari...

Chaos

YEE HA,they sell a billion plus cans of that stuff anually,F1 needs well financed players !

ltc

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/13953/

Greg A

How do you support this statement? Toyota is poised to become the #1 auto manufacturer in the world. I think they have plenty of money and spend a bunch of it on F1. How has that helped their team perform?

Since Red Bull founder Dieter M. is a billionaire he'll magically turn around Jag F1 and make them contenders when Ford barely managed also-ran status?

Greg A

Flying Finn

Greg,

I don't beleieve they will become a champion or major contender in few years but like I said, they CAN become a contender (meaning top 3-4 team).

With Cosworth I don't see it happening but in few years let's say they'd have Honda or MB engine, i don't see why they couldn't do as well as BAR did last year.

JCP911S

I agree alot of players in turning around Ferrari... just making the point that compared with other drivers, I think Shumi brings alot more to the table outside the cockpit than most.... he ain't a bad wheel spinner, but clearly the advantage is in car set-up.

F1 costs are mind boggling... at $400M a year, a Billion bucks dont last too long... compared with Toyota and Daimler Chrysler and the tobacco companies Red Bull is a flyspeck... they will need some serious outside sponsorship to make a go... there just aren;t alot of companies that can afford that kind of money... if there were, you don't think Ford couldn;t find them?

All I know from many years of watching racing is that just when you think it can;t get any more retartded... it does... someone will be spending a Billion a year in F1 some day....

Flying Finn

I agree, way he motivates the crew (even though he drives the car that's by far the best car to set-up and is built for his driving style) and set's up his car is very good.