Edax wrote: ↑06 Aug 2022, 14:04
mwillems wrote: ↑06 Aug 2022, 10:45
I think the team will focus on sporting targets, not financial ones.
The finances are complicated, Dans name and prestige will have brought in funds via sponsors and it will have in part paid for itself. I don't think anyone can deny that having that first win on the board for 10 years and the first 1-2 at all of 2021 will have done wonders for our brand. Even finishing 4th, that win would have propelled our image more towards the elite teams again, and who knows, maybe this is how the Google deal came to pass.
However this is a sporting decision I believe. Piastri may also not deliver high end points next year, but the team may well view it that Dan won't either. So when faced between the choice of an ageing driver who can't adapt and the most exciting young prospect who doesn't have a drive, it seems sensible to take the driver who the team can mold around their car and their processes.
I'm excited to see what Piastri can do and to see how quickly he gets up to speed vs Landos first 3 years.
Mclaren is not in a position that they can afford not to look at finances. Obviously they are in much better shape with the capital injection new sponsors and selling their headquarters.
But that does not automatically mean that they can afford to spend more on the salary of their second driver than ferrari does on their first.
They had to invest a lot of money to lock in Lando. If they now see an opportunity in the contract to reduce the cost on Ricciardo i guess they take it.
Anyway I think drive to survive is going to be interesting to watch next year.
1) Prior to the budget cap and during Covid, no. But as an example, in the previous financial years accounts the F1 team made revenues of £212m and the teams budget for this year is around £124m. Capital expenditure (Wind tunnel) is not covered by the team, which leaves them £90m to spend on Driver and executive salaries and other misc expenses, so they can choose to make sporting decisions over financial if that is how they want to spend their money.
2) That assumes that they would pay Daniel for the full remainder of his contract. This is unlikely if he gets another seat, which he probably will. So whatever they pay Piastri next year added to whatever they pay off to Dan will still likely amount to less than what they would have paid Dan anyway. And if Dan gets paid for his full year, I don't think the extra cost of Piastri is anything to worry about.
In terms of commercial sponsorship, Lando is probably becoming a strong enough sponsor attraction in his own right now, as are Mclaren.
So to be fair to Dan, he did give us a leg up financially I expect, even if he couldn't do it in a sporting sense, but I'd like to think the team can maintain their current profile without him now.
https://www.grandprix247.com/2022/01/10 ... nancially/