NaroEscape

Romantic holdover or not, perception is reality in all Sports. Win a Super Bowl as a Dallas Cowboy quarterback and you are immortalized. Win one as a Tampa Bay quarterback and ....??? And when was the last super bowl win by the Cowboys? Doesn't matter...win one now and all the past failures are forgotten.

Ferrari has WAY more fans than all other teams - probably combined. Casual fans know Ferrari. Like it or not, they are the standard with which F1 revolves. Take away Ferrari, and you probably have no F1....Take away Red Bull and someone will step in and fill the void.

ltc

If you are right, Tony Romo is having a bad career

If you are right, there would be no reason for Luca to take his toy (Ferrari) and start his own series, where he can make sure he wins every year. Oh wait, he tried that, extorted some money and concessions from Bernie and kept the circus in tact.

Yes, Ferrari has many fans, but you know what Darwin said ....

Flying Finn

I disagree.

OK, Ferrari does have the most fans than other teams but no way near combined, not even close.

When you go to races in Europe, majority of the fans, with the exception of Italians, are for their national driver or team. Brits are mostly for British teams & Drivers, Germans for Germans (wanna bet how many Schumi/Ferrari fans are now wearing silver or Red/Blue instead of Red?), Finns are for Finns etc.

It's different here in US where there are no US drivers and majority if "fans" are very casual and know very little so they go for the only brand they know; Ferrari.
Talk to a casual US spectator and I'm sure they have bo idea what team's factory is in Woking... Ask any Finn, German, Spaniard, Italian and 98% of them know it's McLaren and they also know who Mansour Ojjeh is.

In a same way, you can ask those same folks who Tony Stewart is and they have no clue.

Completely different culture there.

rlets

Who's Tony Stewart?

multi21

But only 1/3 of the races are held in Europe nowadays. If you go to Singapore, India, Malaysia, etc. there is a sea of red, more than any other team for sure. For both US and Canadian GPs, there are more SF fans.

This whole discussion is kind of silly. Why would RBR want or need Fernando anyway? He just turned 32 yesterday. Vettel is 25 and a 3 time soon to be 4 time champion. RBR does not need the Santander $$ and Ferrari doesn't either. RBR has their full trust in SV and that's that.

Conversely, Luca got rid of 2 WDC before their time. Schumacher and Kimi. Now, his new mistress is looking to leave before she gets the boot for not delivering a WDC. It would really be a kick in the nuts to Alonso if Kimi filled Massa's seat for next year

ltc

Pete,
Lets not overlook the possibility of Kimi replacing Alonso and "fill in the blank" replacing Massa.

Brand new car, lots of reliability questions and retirements opens the door for a clean sweep going forward.

It is interesting that Kimi commented that people may not understand or agree with his decision regarding next year. Perhaps he was referring to Ferrari instead of RBR or Lotus.

What a way for Alonso to potentially end his F1 career. I wonder if Santander has finally gotten tired of sponsoring a driver who can't deliver a WDC.

Flying Finn

Yea but all of those places (Singapore, India, Malaysia etc.) are like US, very little real F1 fans who know and are into it and like I said, the "lightweight" fans know Ferrari, and almost exclusively, only Ferrari,so those stands are half red.
Filling 100-200K seats is nothing and if half of that are Ferrari fans, we're talking about 50-100K people, in Finland alone, there can be 2-3 million out of 5 million who are watching F1 and more than 25% of the population are die hard fans who know a lot and only were Ferrari fans when Kimi was there.
I'm only using Finland as an example because I (obviously) know it so well. But I have many very good Italian & UK friends and know Italy, UK, Spain etc. are the same way Finland is when it comes to F1.

Think about it, 25% of population are real, die hard fans.
If that was the case in US, there would be 80 million die hard F1 fans here!

Add to that Rossi being competitive at, say, MB or Lotus and there would be a lot of unsold red hats being left at the shelves in US GP and it would be a sea of silver or Black & Gold instead.

Rest of your post I completely agree, RB has no need for Alonso. They're winning championships and he would not add anything marketing wise either.
If they want a fast guy and someone who's good for their image, there ain't anyone better than Kimi who would fit that bill.

Also agree about Luca. Got rid of Schumi a year too early and made a mistake when wanted the focus to be in Massa AFTER Kimi won the WDC...
I think in both cases it was personal & ego issue.
Schumi was too "big" when not winning Championships anymore and Kimi just was/is too much of a "James Hunt" with his attitude & off track persona and neither of those sit well with Luca.

mgent

Or was this Alonso applying pressure to the team for the 2nd half of 2013? He clearly wasn't happy with the updates @ hungry...

Also, I bet Kimi is just leveraging RB for more cash... I don't think he'd want to go back - way too much politics/sponsor requirements/etc, he just wants to drive and no t have to do anything else... I'd bet Red Bull would accommodate those needs.. they don't need him for marketing, and nobody would buy a 'Kimi edition' infiniti anyways...

Flying Finn

Alonso is not putting any pressure on anything, its the other way around after Luca told him to shut the F up...

No way would RB take Alonso to be alongside with Vettel, why would they?

Same with Kimi, he ain't going to Ferrari.

NaroEscape

Um...did you forget? This is Formula 1...just because it doesn't make sense, doesn't mean it won't happen...

multi21

Do we really know if it's Kimi under his helmet in this commercial when he pulls into the Shell station or a body double? Can't remember Kimi doing too many PR dates with Ferrari aside from the winter week in the Alps. I'm pretty sure Kimi is used to the snow, however.

Flying Finn

Yea but still, no way does RB take DV...

Regarding Kimi's PR duties, or lack thereof, he has never, including at Lotus, had any clause or similar that would dictate how many, or few PR days he does.

ltc

Really?
You mean Santander would stay with Ferrari if Luca fired Alonso?
I think since Alonso brought Santander to Ferrari, Alonso can put some pressure on Luca, since Luca loves money.

multi21

I must have jinxed it!! Literally a day after I posted this, the event that has taken place for 23 straight years comes to an end.. One less PR event for Kimi to attend I guess.... (Can you tell I want Kimi in a red suit instead of Miss A).

Ferrari sponsor cancels Wrooom event

2 August 2013

The traditional pre-season Wrooom event, attended by the Ferrari Formula 1 team and Ducati MotoGP outfit, has been cancelled by Philip Morris, the parent company of cigarette brand Marlboro. A poor economic climate has been cited as the cause.

Taking place at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort each January, the event saw the Ferrari drivers and Ducati riders take part in a range of winter activities, while selected journalists posed questions ahead of the respective motor racing campaigns.

"The costs of the event are no longer sustainable, therefore we are forced to remove it from our activities," Maurizio Arrivabene, Vice President of Philip Morris International, told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport of his decision to cancel Wrooom.

This year, the 23rd edition of Wrooom took place in the Dolomite mountains

ltc

2 comments about that video

1. It makes you realize just how sh!tty next year's engines are going to sound when put into F1 historical perspective.

2. It was Sato under the helmet, not Kimi