Formula 100

FB

Not my cup of cake
Valued Member
Along with FOM, FOTA and the GPDA the FIA now has a new "pressure group" to contend with in F1, Formula 100, which is a coallition of the major sponsors. Bernie Ecclestone has called it "silly" but given that without them his circus wouldn't exist he is perhaps being a little hyprocritcal.

My main problem with this is that sponsors come and go and their primary objective is to be on a winning car so I struggle to see how they will be able to reach a conscencus given their own vested interest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11158296
 
Personally, I'm actually inclined to agree with Bernie on this one.

Such an organisation would only be of a benefit if they were actually prepared to act with one voice, and be able to threaten complete withdrawal from the scene if their positions are not met.

Sadly though sponsors are all after one thing, and that is money. F1 still remains today as one of the most global and televised sports, and although sponsorship fee's are huge, it also make economic sense to sponsor an F1 team to get their brand out to the world, than to separately advertise in over 100 different countries.

I guess my point is that they would never withdraw from the sport in totality, and as such they loose a strong bargaining position.

If sponsors did withdraw involvement, there would immediately be a further 100 companies wishing to step into their place, it just makes sense.

Lets think about it. Say 200 million per year to be prime sponsor for a top 3 team. The amount of TV time your brand gets is huge over the year. Say with qualifying, race and post race interviews amounting to a total of 4 hours. A top 3 team probably has their brand on the TV for no less that 1/10 of that time. That is 24 mins for 18 races, thats 480 mins of coverage per year, give or take half an hour. In one country you can spend up to 30k per 30s commercial on average. Thats £28,800,000 per 480 minutes in a single country.

As I said, Formula 1 teams are getting that level of coverage in 100 countries for roughly 10 times that amount.

As I said, it just makes economic sense, and as such there will never be a lack of sponsors.
 
If the text is correct and the sponsors spend $723 million then I see no reason why they shouldn't have a say.

If not for them then F1 wouldn't exist.

I highly suspect though that they will get short thrift from Bernie.
 
Brogan said:
I highly suspect though that they will get short :snigger: thrift from Bernie.

Anyone else to set up an organisation? Roll up, roll up.

We've got the GPDA, FIA, FOM, FOTA and F100 now. The FIA and FOM are spiritual successors to FISA and FOCA, although FOTA is more like FOCA than the FOM is.

At least this topic wiles away the time before the Gran Premio Santander d'Italia. Although it doesn't really matter, since we care what will happen on the track; whether Red Bull, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes or Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro will be champions after the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
 
teabagyokel said:
Anyone else to set up an organisation? Roll up, roll up.

I'm thinking of setting up the FFA - Formula 1 Fans Association.

My first order of business, take F1 away from tracks that both we don't like, and don't get any support at the venue.

If I can get enough people signed up, then I will initiate a strike both against fans using the sponsors and not turning up to any tracks. Until our demands are met!!!

Get Bernie quaking in his boots!
 
teabagyokel said:
Brogan said:
I highly suspect though that they will get short :snigger: thrift from Bernie.

Anyone else to set up an organisation? Roll up, roll up.

We've got the GPDA, FIA, FOM, FOTA and F100 now. The FIA and FOM are spiritual successors to FISA and FOCA, although FOTA is more like FOCA than the FOM is.

At least this topic wiles away the time before the Gran Premio Santander d'Italia. Although it doesn't really matter, since we care what will happen on the track; whether Red Bull, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes or Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro will be champions after the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hmm the FIA was formed in 1904.Way way before FISA and FOM.
FOM is simply Bernies company that bought the commercial rights to F1 from the FIA.
And FOTA is a teams association completely different objectives and management structure than FOCA was.
You forgot the GPMA the GP manufacturers association.
 
Brogan said:
If the text is correct and the sponsors spend $723 million then I see no reason why they shouldn't have a say.

If not for them then F1 wouldn't exist.

I highly suspect though that they will get short thrift from Bernie.

I am not to sure of that.Bernie was dismissive of FOTA initially until he discovered that they were deadly serious in their purpose.
The first thing that all the FOTA teams did was put all their contracts with the FOA which is another of Bernies companies and then they found that they all had very different contracts especially the financial terms.
FOTA challenged FOA on this, and not only did the get an increase in their share of F1's income but now they all have the same conditions.
Bernie still makes dismissive comments about them but that is due to that he can no longer do his dodgy under the table payments to get his own way.
 
Bernie has to ensure a certain number of cars on the grid, ergo he has to pay attention to this; but clearly they're not as credible a grouping as FOTA are.

In fact, I'm not altogether clear that the two groups (F100 and FOTA) are ever really going to diverge on policy, are they? FOTA were already pushing for more exposure, the USGP etc...


---

LOL @ Enja!
 
Galahad said:
Bernie has to ensure a certain number of cars on the grid, ergo he has to pay attention to this; but clearly they're not as credible a grouping as FOTA are.

In fact, I'm not altogether clear that the two groups (F100 and FOTA) are ever really going to diverge on policy, are they? FOTA were already pushing for more exposure, the USGP etc...


---

LOL @ Enja!

I think that you are right.Both F100 and FOTA have the same points of view.Both want more exposure especially in places with emerging economies.For companies like Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault etc they know the European market inside out.
What they and the sponsors want is exposure in places like Russia, China and all Eastern countries with strong emerging economies.The strenght and growth of the Indian economy is a large part of the reason for the Indian GP.
 
sportsman said:
There is an excellent article here on F100.I think that Bernies opposition is simply the same as his opposition to FOTA.
Now he has to consider other interested parties points of view and instead of having everything his own way the sponsors and the team have a united voice.

http://www.formula1journal.com/2010/08/ ... lood1.html

Gee, I beat the BBC to the story by about a month! I do agree that some sponsors who don't sell things in Korea and other places like that may lose interest in the sport. But as bernie knows, sponsors come and go and old school followers know some of the constant sponsors of the sport, like Parmalat, have disappeared of their own accord and were replaced by others.
 
Back
Top Bottom