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[NocturnalTendencies]

Per SpeedTV's broadcast, they were talking about a government-funded Malaysian F1 Team.

Have national teams ever existed in F1 before?

Cheers

[scotty]

Depends how strict you wanna be about it, ie now we have Force India...

[darwin dali]

Depends how strict you wanna be about it, ie now we have Force India...

That's just a name - no government involvement...
Would be the same if Ferrari called themselves Forza Italia.

[burt estep]

maserati was gov' owned at one point,but i don't believe that they were in f1 at that time. burt.

[scotty]

Depends how strict you wanna be about it, ie now we have Force India...

That's just a name - no government involvement...
Would be the same if Ferrari called themselves Forza Italia.

Or Scuderia Italia

Yeah, i misread the original post if they meant government funded teams and such, i thought they meant teams just representing a nation. Without diverting too much into politics, i'd have thought any government would be suicidal to announce they are going to spend tax payer money on an F1 team though...

[NocturnalTendencies]

According to reports in the domestic press, the Malaysian government is interested in forming a national Formula One team.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090903102159.shtml

This is what I was referring to, sorry about the confusion.

Cheers

[NateDawg80126]

I live in the states and all of the Army sponsored race cars around really piss me off given our current economy. I love racing, but I sure as hell don't approve of my tax dollars going to NASCAR or the NHRA. I could go on for hours, but I don't want to get off topic. That said, if I truly believed that a given country stood to benefit from such a sponsorship I would fully support it. For instance, if Malaysia could actually turn a profit from it through increased attendance at their home race, apparel sales, various other sponsorships, news and television contracts, I would say its a great idea, but how realistic is that really?. I tend to think that this is more about "image" than actually benefiting the country, which is something I will never support.

[ducksfan]

If you're living in a country, where motorsport has very big interest, it maybe makes sense. But Malaysia? I don't care, how much money they have, but having a national team would mean hiring Malaysian drivers. And just look how awful Yoong was.

[Jabberwocky]

It would be nice to see some BRG back on the screens.

I think it would be suicide for a goverment to run an F1 team. the UK goverment can not even get the bin collected nevermind anything else. Whenever anything would go wrong with the country, like no enough body armour for troops, not enough pay for nurses, not enough policemen etc. it will be put down to not having enough money, and then the F1 team would get mentioned. what would happen when there is a change of goverment. would the car suddenly get pained the colour of the party that is in at the time?

[phiend]

I live in the states and all of the Army sponsored race cars around really piss me off given our current economy. I love racing, but I sure as hell don't approve of my tax dollars going to NASCAR or the NHRA. I could go on for hours, but I don't want to get off topic. That said, if I truly believed that a given country stood to benefit from such a sponsorship I would fully support it. For instance, if Malaysia could actually turn a profit from it through increased attendance at their home race, apparel sales, various other sponsorships, news and television contracts, I would say its a great idea, but how realistic is that really?. I tend to think that this is more about "image" than actually benefiting the country, which is something I will never support.

I've been annoyed with this as well in the past. Does the American Air Force really need to provide money to monster trucks?
I guess the money they use to sponsor motor sports is part of their advertising budget, and they will spend every last penny allocated to them regardless of whether its spent on TV, radio, and print ads or sponsoring monster trucks and top fuel dragsters.

If nothing else, I do suppose their marketing is right on target with things like NASCAR...A bunch of redneck young males who like guns...

[darwin dali]

I live in the states and all of the Army sponsored race cars around really piss me off given our current economy. I love racing, but I sure as hell don't approve of my tax dollars going to NASCAR or the NHRA. I could go on for hours, but I don't want to get off topic. That said, if I truly believed that a given country stood to benefit from such a sponsorship I would fully support it. For instance, if Malaysia could actually turn a profit from it through increased attendance at their home race, apparel sales, various other sponsorships, news and television contracts, I would say its a great idea, but how realistic is that really?. I tend to think that this is more about "image" than actually benefiting the country, which is something I will never support.

I've been annoyed with this as well in the past. Does the American Air Force really need to provide money to monster trucks?
I guess the money they use to sponsor motor sports is part of their advertising budget, and they will spend every last penny allocated to them regardless of whether its spent on TV, radio, and print ads or sponsoring monster trucks and top fuel dragsters.

If nothing else, I do suppose their marketing is right on target with things like NASCAR...A bunch of redneck young males who like guns...

[Rivelution]

Hey I like guns! I havent shot very many, but it sure is fun to target shoot!

[NateDawg80126]

I live in the states and all of the Army sponsored race cars around really piss me off given our current economy. I love racing, but I sure as hell don't approve of my tax dollars going to NASCAR or the NHRA. I could go on for hours, but I don't want to get off topic. That said, if I truly believed that a given country stood to benefit from such a sponsorship I would fully support it. For instance, if Malaysia could actually turn a profit from it through increased attendance at their home race, apparel sales, various other sponsorships, news and television contracts, I would say its a great idea, but how realistic is that really?. I tend to think that this is more about "image" than actually benefiting the country, which is something I will never support.

I've been annoyed with this as well in the past. Does the American Air Force really need to provide money to monster trucks?
I guess the money they use to sponsor motor sports is part of their advertising budget, and they will spend every last penny allocated to them regardless of whether its spent on TV, radio, and print ads or sponsoring monster trucks and top fuel dragsters.

If nothing else, I do suppose their marketing is right on target with things like NASCAR...A bunch of redneck young males who like guns...

They get away with it because they say the money comes from their recruitment budget or some such nonsense. I have no issues with the Army, Marine, Air Force or Navy setting up tents or centers at racing or various other sporting events, I think it's a great idea. But why is sponsoring a car needed, its just not a necessary use of spending. Any well respected sporting venue would probably be delighted to have military recruiters set up something at their event... but does a race car really inspire people to join the military?

[SingaporeSling]

but does a race car really inspire people to join the military?

Excellent question. Do you think a race car inspires people to smoke marlboro, or to put they monies in ING, Santander or RBS, or to buy HP laptop. Some people who specialise in marketing and advertisement seem to think so. I'm not sure if they money is well spent, but that seem to keep the F1 show going on.

But national teams, might make sense in some situations like Malaysia; they have a race course, they have a national oil company already sponsoring one team, national tourism board could well join in the same boat, and use the F1 GP to promote Malaysian tourism. It's not that odd idea. Only thing they're missing is a driver. As for European countries I don't think so.

[vaptin]

A race car may not get people to join the military - the idea is whether people who like race cars will be interested in the military.