F1 Teams - who has the biggest appendage?

[FB]

Having just seen the plans for the new Ferrari technical centre it got me thinking about the general "pissing contest" that has evolved in F1 over the last 20 years around headquarters, technical centres and "mobile homes". At the German GP there was a huge field just full of the HGV's used to ship all the gear to the circuit, including all the stuf FOM TV needs to hawk about.

I don't begrudge an F1 team a nice, state of the art factory but are some of the edifices now being constructed more about the ego of the team management than what is needed to produce an F1 car? Here are a few of the F1 team buildings:

Ferrari Gestione Sportiva (under construction)

The infamous MTC

Red Bull. Milton Keynes

AMG Mercedes at Brackley (quite an old image with the "Earth Nightmare" truck outside)

Sauber at Hinwil

Force India

Williams (and not a cooling tower in sight)

As you can see some are simply industrial units which have been converted (FI, Red Bull, AMG Mercedes). Others appear to be making a statement, although quite what that statement is I'm not sure when you consider the two most excessive ones (if that is the right description, you may choose to disagree) are from McLaren and Ferrari who appear to have forgotten how to make a racing car in the last few years.

 

[cider_and_toast]

But never forget, costs are rising at an unsustainable rate in F1.

One of Parkinson's laws of buisness applies particularly in situations such as this:

"Only a company in decline has the time to spend building the perfect headquarters"

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

it is unfortunate that the MTC is shaped like a peanut ....

 

[soccerman17]

Could be worse. Could be shaped like the nose of a 2014 F1 car.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The puddle at the bottom right of the MTC picture is a little too phallic for my liking

 

[cider_and_toast]

From 1980 until they folded, somewhere on this small trading estate in Chasetown, Staffordshire was the headquarters of Ensign F1.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6716636,-1.9288397,245m/data=!3m1!1e3

Yep, the car that came 4th in the 1981 Brazillian GP and took fastest lap of the race was built there.

You see Tony, you should have revived the Ensign name not Lotus

 

[FB]

This is Team Enstone

 

[teabagyokel]

cider_and_toast - Those puddles aren't an official part of the MTC landscape, they just spontaneously turned up in 2010 at a similar time to the disappearance of large quantities of Chablis from Ron's office, as Road of Bones would tell you!