F1 Australian GP

[sendmyusername]

And before anyone says underfueling is cheating, it's formula 1. That's half the point.
I remember reading about one team, (possibly tyrell) made their cars deliberately under weight, near the end of the race, they dived into the pits for a 'splash and dash' of fuel, and half the container was filled with ball bearings to make the car heavier !
And for those of a younger age that think sh*t - go check it out, they got thrown out for at least a season because of it.

[Doc883]

F1 Speed Comparison
Mick Doohan piloting the SL63, Casey Stoner in the V8 and David Coulthard in the Red Bull F1.
http://cars.aol.co.uk/2013/03/19/speed- ... d%3D164469

[jason]

The fastest lap gets money towards the team

Have you a source for this?

I don't know why a smaller team doesn't underfuel their car, batter around for twenty laps full chat and then pretend they have a car issue and bail out, especially at the last race of the season when trying to get sponsors for next years car.

Probably because where they finish a race can have positive impact on their Championship standing at season's end - which is directly commensurate with their share of the prize fund (so long as they are in top 10). And it's big money - probably more significant to, say, Caterham than a sponsorship deal they could secure as back-markers.

[sendmyusername]

brundle used to mention it quite a lot before he disappeared to sky. it is a pifling amount by their standards, but if they have already spent the money getting there, they would be as well going for it, i'll have a look over the next few days and see if i can find the official thingy.
re: the underfueling, i realise that last year it was pretty much down to the last few laps, but normally it's sorted before the last race. if they did an artificial 20 laps keeping up with the mid field (obviously the rest of the field would have full tanks,) and dressed it up as upgrades to the car, then they might get extra sponsors the following year, that were gambling on improved performance.
can you imagine how much money lotus paid renault so they could pretend that it's their car ?
imagine one sponser with that much money to a little team, just for throwing one race .
and before you say no-one would throw a race just look at benneton .
if they were already out of the points, it wouldn't make a difference.

[Shug]

can you imagine how much money lotus paid renault so they could pretend that it's their car ?

Nothing.

Yep, believe it or not, there's no money changing hands to put the Lotus name on the Endstone car (and it's just as accurate to call it a Benetton or a Toleman as a Renault - they stopped financial involvement at the end of their last title season)

Somehow, Bahahaha convinced the team that the Lotus name was an asset to have, the team agreed (and I'm sure with some negotiations involving Genii and some possible Lotus buy-out that may or may not have been discussed at the time) changed their name. Part of the Concorde agreement is that a team can't change names without some sort of financial penalty, IIRC, so Lotus as a name stays in F1 for the forseeable. I assume if a suitably moneyed title sponsor comes along, then it will change again.

If he did anything worthwhile - that deal was certainly it. The great unwashed don't really get that there's no link (witness the bits in the recent press release about the "winding up" court case where they had to strenuously indicate that the F1 team has nothing to do with the road cars) So, to the average non-F1 fan Joe, your Lotus is related to an F1 car, much like a Ferrari is.

[j2 lot]

Seem to remember there was a monetary incentive from the FIA to have the Lotus name (or any other historical winning moniker) attached to a team as it increases the payout in comparison to a 'new' name. Fezza get a higher payout than any other team as a result of the longevity of their assosiation with F1.

Maybe Im havering

[Shug]

Not heard that one, but sounds possible. It's all hidden in the 'confidential' Concorde agreement that only the teams see though, so who knows?

[woody]

End of season bonuses taper depending on previous championship wins from what I remember. Was much discussed when Tony Fernandes was buying the old Team lotus name.

[jason]

End of season bonuses taper depending on previous championship wins from what I remember. Was much discussed when Tony Fernandes was buying the old Team lotus name.

From the total F1 prize fund, Ferrari get their unique sweetener (rumours abound that Red Bull have managed to negotiate something similar for the future), the remainder is then shared through the top 10 constructors - some divided equally, some weighted according to Championship position. I understood it is purely based on that season's performance.

Even the amount Caterham got for last year, for being last in the queue to see Santa, is a lump of money that probably exceeds their sponsorship potential (ignoring the source of any particular team's main funding). Something around $40m USD. No sponsor will bring that kind of money, ever, to a back-marker team for a single year (or any team, excluding Phillip Morris to Ferrari for that matter).