MB to invest more in F1
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MB to invest more in F1
DaimlerChrysler is going to invest a huge amount of money to return to the top of Formula 1. The Mercedes-Benz board has approved a $1 billion engine development budget for the next five years. They've also managed to steal Werner Laurenz, one of BMW's top engineers, as well. I don't know how much all of this will help for 2003 - as I'd imagine the new motor is already pretty much done (maybe they'll have a big upgrade mid-season).
BT
BT
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Originally posted by lars
Wouldn't it be interesting to see the business case for that scale of investment?
Wouldn't it be interesting to see the business case for that scale of investment?
Later, BT
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MB sold 1,113,000 cars in 2001 (Autozine, Feb 02). To spend $200 million annually on F1 engine development takes the equivalent of $179 (OK, let's say $175) off the bottom line of each and every new MB sold. I am left wondering how much of the increased cost will be returned in the form of new revenue. On the other hand, maybe it's not about increasing profit.
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You've also got the Chrysler division, plus all of the commercial truck businesses (Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz and Sterling). So the "price-per-unit" value will be lower.
DC spends about $2.0 billion worldwide for advertising each year. They've publicly stated that they race in F1 for "image" purposes. My guess is that most of the F1 budget comes out of the advertising budget (maybe a little of the cash is from the R&D department) - so this increase will be about 10% of the worldwide advertising budget. Not too bad for 300 million viewers a race - as long as they don't blow up!
- BT
DC spends about $2.0 billion worldwide for advertising each year. They've publicly stated that they race in F1 for "image" purposes. My guess is that most of the F1 budget comes out of the advertising budget (maybe a little of the cash is from the R&D department) - so this increase will be about 10% of the worldwide advertising budget. Not too bad for 300 million viewers a race - as long as they don't blow up!
- BT
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I read that Ferrari's yearly budget is $200 Million, however they always far exceed that.
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The last numbers for Ferrari that I saw were more in the $350 million range. McLaren was second with ~$275m and Williams third with ~$225m. I think Toyota and Renault are in the $175-225m neighborhood as well (with Toyota spending on the high side of these numbers). The 2nd tier teams: BAR, Sauber, Jordan and Jag are around $100-125m - Minardi and Arrows about $50m.
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It seems as if Ferrari is also getting specialized treatment from support manufacturers and FIA. How can FIA allow Bridgestone to make "Ferrari exclusive" tires? And supply the rest of the teams with FIA spec tires? I wonder if there are other manufacturers doing this for Ferrari or any other team? Does this really give Ferrari an advantage? Or have they been very lucky this year, since they really have had no major problems to speak of.
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Originally posted by Accord
Are these numbers including the actual drivers salaries?
Are these numbers including the actual drivers salaries?
No exact numbers for F1 budgets are every really made public, so it's hard to say for sure.
- BT
