Ferrari's "Special Deal" with Bernie.. The Truth is out!

[bettonracing]

What another team would or wouldn't do is hardly the point here, is it now?
The way I see it, the point is that Bernie/FOM decided that one team was worth more money than the others, all based on some mysterious market-value analysis.

Having said that, among the top-teams at the time of a break-away threat from the manufacturers side, there is little doubt in my mind that Ferrari was the team most susceptible to such an offer.

What another team would or wouldn't do may change the intonation some have that Ferrari 'sold their soul'. It also helps highlight what You and others have said about Ferrari's [relative] value to F1 (i.e. Substitute any other team w/ Ferrari and consider the [relative] consequence to F1).

As far as Ferrari's susceptibility, from what perspective? Being able to deal directly with the manufacturer's management would make the deal quick and easy (as opposed to dealing with team principals who then have to present the case to their management for 'allegiance approval'), but I would speculate the deal would be just as easy if Bernie called <insert manufacturer's name here> management and offered the same deal. I suspect You're speculating their susceptibility from a moralistic pov? If yes, see my prev post.

Regards,

H. Kurt Betton

[Rob W]

I reckon F1 needs to grow some balls and say to Ferrari: stay if you like but it's on even footing with everyone else now.

I'd bet Ferrari would stay... they need F1 for their marketing and kudos more than anyone else in the field. Mercedes, Toyota and Renault do just fine without motorsport connotations and their marketing mostly doesn't make the F1 link. Ferrari however use their F1 link as their baseline pitch for all of their marketing. F1 in essence is their media space/billboard/magazine. They wouldn't leave no matter what.

[sebbe]

It is impossible to reason with fans, because we are driven by emotions.
You Tifosi can argue as much as you can, bring back last year's dossier-gate, etc; bottom line is that Ferrari was bought by 80 M.

But worry not, we (the rest of F1 fan community) are willing to accept you as members of the rest of the teams IF you forget about Ferrari and move forward...

By the way, this one-time offer expires in 24 hours.
After that period face the fact that the F-team has lost credibility until they change its management team and proven a substantial change in its ways.

Regards,

Sebbe

[andartop]

Ferrari can make £80M just by selling socks and pencils with their logo on..
Please leave all the BS about morality and credibility out of F1, we all know how ALL teams love to cheat and then lie about it, and it's always been like that. At least us tifosi don't pretend our beloved team is good and righteous.. it bad enough to be a wolf among sheep, but it's even worse to be a wolf in sheep's clothing among other wolves in sheep's clothings!!!

[timbo]

You Tifosi can argue as much as you can, bring back last year's dossier-gate, etc; bottom line is that Ferrari was bought by 80 M.

That's all fine, but WHAT exactly was bought?

[bettonracing]

It is impossible to reason with fans, because we are driven by emotions.
You Tifosi can argue as much as you can, bring back last year's dossier-gate, etc; bottom line is that Ferrari was bought by 80 M.

But worry not, we (the rest of F1 fan community) are willing to accept you as members of the rest of the teams IF you forget about Ferrari and move forward...

Lol! One could argue that the other teams were bought for less than the extra $80m since they agreed to stay! Sounds like di Montez made a good business decision!

Let's keep it on topic guys!

Regards,

H. Kurt Betton

[donskar]

Good to see SOME exchange during the current dead period for F1.

HOWEVER, some of the comments here are so bizarre as to cause me to question what pharmaceuticals are driving said comments

In no particular order:

FACT: Ferrari has a higher brand recognition than any team in F1. In fact they are up there with Coca-Cola, Marlboro, McDonalds, etc. In that important sense they ARE more important to F1 than any other team. Image, exposure, brand - they are the gasoline that fuels marketing -- and F1 is a marketing tool.

FACT: As already pointed out, Ferrari DOES make millions off its sale of Ferrari branded clothing, pens, paper, watches, etc, etc. In Las Vegas, the beautiful and/or rich can shop at a Ferrari store that sells everything BUT cars. Nowhere in Vegas will you find a McLaren store or a Williams store.

Ferrari does NOT need F1 to succeed. They -- like Aston and Jaguar -- could trade on their history in racing. They have enough racing history to fuel their marketing for many, many years.

FACT: as already pointed out in another post, Ferrari was hopeless throughout much of the 90s. How does that FACT play with this endlessly boring argument that rules and regulations always favor Ferrari? Is it REMOTELY POSSIBLE that Ferrari's recent success could be attributed to Schumacher, Brawn, Byrne, Todt, Martinelli and Simon -- and TWO test tracks, and some of the best facilities in the sport?

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

[xpensive]

The entire thing is of course just a clever charade, since 1996 it has been orchestrated by Mosley, Ecclesttone and Ferrari in order to create a legendary brand-name by making Schumacher the most successful F1 driver of all time with five straight WC's.

Before that, Ferrari was just another F1 team selling crappy road cars, only a little less organized, and Formula One was in great shape.

[timbo]

Before that, Ferrari was just another F1 team selling crappy road cars, only a little less organized, and Formula One was in great shape.

Like in 1994?

Well, and if all this was created by Ecclestone, why he DOES pay? Ain't he supposed to be PAID instead?

[xpensive]

The way I understand it, Ecclestone one of the richest men in UK, why this devilish plan must somehow have worked out reasonably well for him.

I wonder if his wife's departure is a part of this complicated scheme, think about it, or is she colluding with either Montezemolo or Mosley or both, all on her own?

[andartop]

The entire thing is of course just a clever charade, since 1996 it has been orchestrated by Mosley, Ecclesttone and Ferrari in order to create a legendary brand-name by making Schumacher the most successful F1 driver of all time with five straight WC's.

Before that, Ferrari was just another F1 team selling crappy road cars, only a little less organized, and Formula One was in great shape.

It's really interesting at this point to look at some maths. I have come up with this formula: if you count the number of days since someone first joined this forum and divide it with the total number of posts they have made since, you get what I like to call the "think factor". The smaller that number is, the less time it means the poster has had to think of what he is going to post. Of course, it doesn't apply to everyone. However, it is a good indication, I think, of the quality of one's posts.

[Belatti]

I know what you are referring to, but have in mind that its winter up there and in Sweden there is not much to do outside

It's really interesting at this point to look at some maths. I have come up with this formula: if you count the number of days since someone first joined this forum and divide it with the total number of posts they have made since, you get what I like to call the "think factor". The smaller that number is, the less time it means the poster has had to think of what he is going to post. Of course, it doesn't apply to everyone. However, it is a good indication, I think, of the quality of one's posts.

Lets see down here:
Belatti
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:48 pm
Total posts: 1170
[1.34% of all posts / 2.20 posts per day]

I´m basically thinking about F1 24 hours a day (yes, I dream about F1 ) so I take 12 hours to think and post an idea

My posts should be better!

[jon-mullen]

Let's leave ad hominem attacks to Bernie and Luca, shall we?

[bettonracing]

Let's keep it clean and [to an extent] professional guys. Wild accusations and personal attacks will get us nowhere (expect maybe a locked thread). Duke it out in pm's or email if You must.

Regards,

H Kurt Betton

[DaveKillens]

It's really interesting at this point to look at some maths. I have come up with this formula: if you count the number of days since someone first joined this forum and divide it with the total number of posts they have made since, you get what I like to call the "think factor". The smaller that number is, the less time it means the poster has had to think of what he is going to post. Of course, it doesn't apply to everyone. However, it is a good indication, I think, of the quality of one's posts.

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