[ 2020 ] Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[NiyolHuayra]

Not the same as Williams though and, in that report, sounds very much like a journalist taking a small point from a discussion and making it into a bigger story.

Well, it certainly doesn't sound good if you consider selling a part of your F1 team.

Well they just want to bring in some additional capital if they don't get some money in fast. Then they can buy back the shares.

[Wouter]

[bauc]

Not the same as Williams though and, in that report, sounds very much like a journalist taking a small point from a discussion and making it into a bigger story.

Well, it certainly doesn't sound good if you consider selling a part of your F1 team.

Well they just want to bring in some additional capital if they don't get some money in fast. Then they can buy back the shares.

You guys remember when Mercedes owned 41% of Mclaren? So nothing new, but it will keep the team afloat

[_cerber1]

[Ground Effect]

It’s definitely a tricky time for McLaren, like a lot of other businesses around the world. But generally speaking, F1 is a badly run sport, there’s very little reward for high expenditures, the covid crisis has exposed this even more. But I get the impression McLaren believe they will be fine. They know what they have to do, even though it’s going to be extremely difficult and painful, but their sights are set on getting back to the front. Listening to Zak recently, he’s been very forward thinking, looking ahead and seemingly quite optimistic about 2022 onwards. He doesn’t sound cautious because of their present struggles like someone fighting simply for survival. They’re looking forward to the future. I sincerely hope this is the case.

[_cerber1]

[Ringleheim]

Yeah, this doesn't bode well for F1 in general IMO.

I can start to see a time in the not too distant future when F1 doesn't exist.

Or at least not as anything close to what we currently know.

The fundamental structure of the sport is fragile and global companies spending zillions on ICE race cars is kind of a dying thing.

However, the death of constructor dominated F1 could be the birth of something wonderful, akin to what F1 was like in the '70s.

Switch the emphasis to privateer teams with manageable budgets, shared bits and pieces, and a common engine for all of them, or maybe a couple different common engines. Make it a NA V12, what everyone wants anyway, and rule out reliance on aerodynamics in the regs.

F1 would lose a lot of the hi-tech image but the racing might be better than ever.

Sorry to go way off course. I don't think it's good new that McLaren is somewhat in trouble.

There aren't that many Mclarens in F1 history, though the have been on the decline for a very long time.

[adrianjordan]

... Make it a NA V12, what everyone wants anyway, and rule out reliance on aerodynamics in the regs.

No they don't. Some people want that. A lot of people want to see high technology and actually like the hybrid PU technology.

The V12 is a dinosaur and will soon be extinct in any form.

ICE are an endangered species.

I've been watching a lot of classic races during lockdown and the racing is no better than it is now, in many cases worse!!

[mwillems]

McLaren weighs sale of stake in Formula One team
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus- ... m-12009023

I'm quoting RonDennis' post but generally replying to the thread...

Mclaren have changed ownership a lot recently, with Ron Dennis and Mercedes exiting and with Latifi coming on board. Having different investors won't change that. It's a shame we can't have Toto taking up the option.

There's plenty of money to be made from Mclaren F1 in the future, they can well afford to exist successfuly in the budget cap. Mclaren F1s current income stood at £185.7m in FYE 2019, up £50m on FYE 2018.

https://investors.mclaren.com/sites/mcl ... c-2019.pdf

This year is a blip and whilst it might be harder to find some sponsors, the existing contracts should hold and the impression you get is that this years sponsor revenue will be up again, as will the rewards payments from 2019 racing results. So not all doom and gloom.

Mclaren redundancies were happening anyway and more will come due to the budget cap. This report is not a question of Mclaren being viable, it is a question of how to fund Mclaren through this situation at the lowest possible cost to the team, the shareholders and the bondholders. There would be a queue of investors from the Middle East and China all willing to invest in Mclaren. What we are in fact seeing, is politics.

The owners don't feel they want to or can afford to support the team but nor do they want to relinquish it. Bondholders and banks are having a different opinion. In fact, it may be that those institutions are doing to the owners what Ron Dennis tried to do and and institute new ownership, with the current owners are possibly trying to prevent that by managing a controlled sale themselves. If the owners can no longer support the team and they can't find fresh investment then they will have no choice but to let go.

That's just my opinion on it all. Now watch them go bankrupt next year and get renamed to Racing Lada as some Russian investors pick up the pieces.

[Jolle]

It feels like the midfield is trying to find its way into the new wave of investors, with Racing Point/Aston Martin as an example.

[mwillems]

It feels like the midfield is trying to find its way into the new wave of investors, with Racing Point/Aston Martin as an example.

Racing point kind of fell into it via the debacle surrounding Vijay Maliya that was ultimately forced by Sergio Perez.
The opportunity to buy Aston Martin was probably already on the cards when Stroll decided to buy Force India, I'm personally putting that down to serendipity and not through any desire of Maliya to let go of the team and look for investment. Through luck and strong business acumen Stroll made that happen, but I don't think it will happen too often like that. I'd be surprised if he doesn't want to emulate a little of what Mclaren had achieved, and I hope he does.

Williams also have had no choice but to sell, and it will be like a knife in the heart to Frank. But if Toto has invested then he will have done so with a plan, although it's hard to understand what it is with his links to Aston Martin.

It's possible I've misunderstood your use of the word "trying" and are in fact just suggesting that without realising, the whole midfield is having a subconscious need to change at once. In which case, yes, I agree!

Even Haas don't know if they can afford to go back racing.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... wSTEd.html

[Jolle]

It feels like the midfield is trying to find its way into the new wave of investors, with Racing Point/Aston Martin as an example.

Racing point kind of fell into it via the debacle surrounding Vijay Maliya that was ultimately forced by Sergio Perez.
The opportunity to buy Aston Martin was probably already on the cards when Stroll decided to buy Force India, I'm personally putting that down to serendipity and not through any desire of Maliya to let go of the team and look for investment. Through luck and strong business acumen Stroll made that happen, but I don't think it will happen too often like that. I'd be surprised if he doesn't want to emulate a little of what Mclaren had achieved, and I hope he does.

Williams also have had no choice but to sell, and it will be like a knife in the heart to Frank. But if Toto has invested then he will have done so with a plan, although it's hard to understand what it is with his links to Aston Martin.

It's possible I've misunderstood your use of the word "trying" and are in fact just suggesting that without realising, the whole midfield is having a subconscious need to change at once. In which case, yes, I agree!

Even Haas don't know if they can afford to go back racing.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... wSTEd.html

Trying as in finding new partners. Most of the midfield is still recovering after first the tobacco companies pulling out and later on the car manufacturers and the Saudi oil money. Williams for instance had all three as did Sauber and McLaren.

With no real new car manufacturers on the horizon to invest in a team (as in one of the big ones, not AM or McLaren itself), Saudi money running dry and tobacco not really an option anymore, people like Lance Stroll and Toto Wolff are investors they are trying to interest into F1.

Or, another big, almost tobacco like (marketing above product) company like RedBull or Heineken of course.

[adrianjordan]

McLaren weighs sale of stake in Formula One team
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus- ... m-12009023

I'm quoting RonDennis' post but generally replying to the thread...

Mclaren have changed ownership a lot recently, with Ron Dennis and Mercedes exiting and with Latifi coming on board. Having different investors won't change that. It's a shame we can't have Toto taking up the option.

There's plenty of money to be made from Mclaren F1 in the future, they can well afford to exist successfuly in the budget cap. Mclaren F1s current income stood at £185.7m in FYE 2019, up £50m on FYE 2018.

https://investors.mclaren.com/sites/mcl ... c-2019.pdf

This year is a blip and whilst it might be harder to find some sponsors, the existing contracts should hold and the impression you get is that this years sponsor revenue will be up again, as will the rewards payments from 2019 racing results. So not all doom and gloom.

Mclaren redundancies were happening anyway and more will come due to the budget cap. This report is not a question of Mclaren being viable, it is a question of how to fund Mclaren through this situation at the lowest possible cost to the team, the shareholders and the bondholders. There would be a queue of investors from the Middle East and China all willing to invest in Mclaren. What we are in fact seeing, is politics.

The owners don't feel they want to or can afford to support the team but nor do they want to relinquish it. Bondholders and banks are having a different opinion. In fact, it may be that those institutions are doing to the owners what Ron Dennis tried to do and and institute new ownership, with the current owners are possibly trying to prevent that by managing a controlled sale themselves. If the owners can no longer support the team and they can't find fresh investment then they will have no choice but to let go.

That's just my opinion on it all. Now watch them go bankrupt next year and get renamed to Racing Lada as some Russian investors pick up the pieces.

Given Toto now has a stake in both current Mercedes customer teams, it would not surprise me one bit if he does likewise in McLaren.

[FW17]

The cause of Mclarens problems in Automotive is that they do not have even one single EV
They could have done an EV on their existing line with the expertise they had since the introduction of KERS in F1, but they have missed an opportunity to get ahead of others.

[mclaren111]

The cause of Mclarens problems in Automotive is that they do not have even one single EV
They could have done an EV on their existing line with the expertise they had since the introduction of KERS in F1, but they have missed an opportunity to get ahead of others.

I would rather see them add a SUV...