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[PetroTK40]

Are there monetary incentives for winning are race or the driver's or constructor's titles? How is that broken down?

[McLaren Fan]

Are there monetary incentives for winning are race or the driver's or constructor's titles? How is that broken down?

I know there is prize money for the constructor's championship. The details of the money involved, however, are kept secret. I'm not sure whether the money is handed out according to what place you come at the end of the season or how many points you accumulated throughout the season.

[Martin]

Are there monetary incentives for winning are race or the driver's or constructor's titles? How is that broken down?

This may help a bit:-

The funding of Formula 1 is a mystery for many fans and even those inside the sport 's inner circles have trouble understanding the complexities. What is generally known is that funding for Formula 1 consists of huge sponsorship, television coverage and merchandise sales. The merchandise sales are somewhat of an afterthought for sponsors but as the popularity of Formula 1 is growing the merchandise market is also on the increase.

Formula 1 is like many other sports in respect to television coverage. Advertisers will pay for slots in the TV coverage and may even sponsor a specific channel 's coverage of an event. This lucrative method brings vast amounts of funding to the organising body of Formula 1, the FIA as well as its funding company, Formula One. This is important as Formula One is in the driving seat of presenting the Formula 1 package to the public, hence it needs immense funding to carry out these roles.

The Formula 1 teams support themselves in a number of ways; the bigger teams will be able to court sponsors from some of the biggest names in business, whereas smaller teams must make do with lower profiles patrons. Teams also produce their own merchandise ranges to cater for the needs of the average fans; once again the more popular teams obviously make more money.

Venues in the Formula 1 calendar are somewhat limited with their advertising freedom. As Formula 1 is ran by a small number of big business share holders the venue bosses are pushed out of the commercial decisions. Most venues do not have the rights to place their own signage and must pay to host the race. The majority of money made by venues is in the ticket and merchandise sales once fans are inside the track.

This explains why Formula 1 tickets can be very expensive, mainly due to venue managers trying to recoup some of the 13 million dollars they fork out annually to host a race. Hosting a Formula 1 race however is more about the prestige of being a premier world race track.

Formula One is the name of the business behind the sport of Formula 1; it is these businessmen and financiers that control how each race is funded and which sponsors are given preferential treatment. They also decide how much to 'top up' F1 teams' merchandise and sponsorship profits; although this is kept a secret and can sometimes cause friction between teams.

The teams in recent years have not been making enough money from merchandise and sponsorship sales and are beginning to barter for more money from Formula One. Their argument is that they are the entertainers in the sport and so should get a bigger slice of the cake, whether this will be successful is doubtable.

The drivers are not paid from Formula One funds but are employees of the racing teams. The astronomical sums that many of them receive are incomprehensible to those on an average wage, they are however the best drivers in the world and have worked hard to get where they are. The popular drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso can also sign separate merchandising deals, usually for such luxury items as watches and jewellery.

The Formula 1 gravy train is driven by the big business that is Formula One, while Bernie Ecclestone holds a small part of the power in Formula 1; the big businesses that put up a lot of the funding ultimately demand respect. The bankers of the Formula One Company balance payment and income to keep Formula 1 at the pinnacle of motor racing entertainment.

Seemingly the biggest losers in the Formula 1 world are the venues, as ticket sales are most probably the smallest income when compared with the huge TV sponsorship and merchandise deals. In what is seen as an exclusive sport for the rich, the average fan can only afford his team 's merchandise. With high ticket prices and the worldwide nature of the sport it is hard for anyone but the super rich to follow this sport closely from the trackside.

[Martin]

Also found this. This is the last para of an article but it demonstrates and confirms our suspicions about the way Max & Bernie have the FIA and F1 stiched up. For the full story see http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft16083.html

The other big weakness of the system is that the FIA member clubs do not benefit much from the success of Formula 1. The lease fee paid by the Formula One group was a one-time payment - although there are believed to be some annual recurring costs as well. The money - which was only around $350m - went into a foundation which funds research programmes for the FIA but the many millions that the sport generates are not filtering through to the sport to grassroots level as happens in other sports. This means that there is no investment in the sport at lower levels and also means that poor countries have no real chance to ever build up a motor racing infrastructure. They cannot even afford to pay for a local rally series, a kart track or a scholarship scheme for a talented youngster. This is a source of discontent amongst some of the clubs but to date no-one has seriously challenged the logic of the deal nor the power of the current FIA leadership.

Despite these flaws, Formula 1 is hugely successful and has created probably 200 or more millionaires over the last 25 years. It has made Ecclestone a multibillionaire and it continues to go from strength to strength. The various parties involved push and shove and whine and gripe and perhaps there are better ways for the sport to be structured but things are not about to change in a short period of time.

Perhaps when some of the current personalities involved have moved on there will be reform but until they do they will be fighting as they always have done.

[Kiwi_Chris]

Are there monetary incentives for winning are race or the driver's or constructor's titles? How is that broken down?

There def are part of the judgement against Mclaren last year was that the fine would take into account the loss of prize money from them losing their constructors points. In the end only about half of the fine came from Mclarens coffers

[8-ball]

The fact that the money isn't filtering down to grassroots motorsport is totally unacceptable. Bernie is keeping exorbitant amounts of money for himself and his job is to further F1 commercially worldwide however he is just interested in making sure that his pockets get lined even more by duckling up to the rich sheiks of the middle east. This is the only positive reason I can see justifying the FIA taking more control of the commercial interests but even that isn't a complete fix because the FIA at the moment is totally corrupt. I'd love to see more races in Africa and the Americas especially in the south but seeing as Bernie is stingy and Max is insane the problem will remain.

[McLaren Fan]

The fact that the money isn't filtering down to grassroots motorsport is totally unacceptable. Bernie is keeping exorbitant amounts of money for himself and his job is to further F1 commercially worldwide however he is just interested in making sure that his pockets get lined even more by duckling up to the rich sheiks of the middle east. This is the only positive reason I can see justifying the FIA taking more control of the commercial interests but even that isn't a complete fix because the FIA at the moment is totally corrupt. I'd love to see more races in Africa and the Americas especially in the south but seeing as Bernie is stingy and Max is insane the problem will remain.

Hear hear!

[madbrad]

The shares of TV revenue are doled out to the teams according to how much they were on camera(measured by what position their cars are spending the majority of each race in). IIRC it's judged by how they did the previous season although maybe there's a mid season payout too.
Drivers can sometimes be rewarded for success. As the article says they are paid by the team, not by F1. Drivers who are not yet stars sometimes get paid per point. That's a performance clause, the likes of which Damon Hill rejected from Mclaren for 1997. MS was paid $X for the year plus 10 grand a point in 94 if not his 2 earlier years.

[schuperman]

Hello everyone,
i have a few questions regarding F1 and would really appreciate answers and also any source online for such queries of mine.

Do the teams pay some Fee to a track when they do testing (winter or in between races)? How much is the fee?

How long do team people stay for at the circuit. If the race is on say 8th (Sunday), then when do the team members and trucks reach the track? And by what day are they gone after the race?

How does a circuit make money? I believe they have to pay a lot to host a GP, and obviously cant make that amount thru tickets alone.

Please help me out with any information you all have.

Thanks

[Rivelution]

I dont think the tracks make any profits from the race. I think Monaco, and Silverstone are the only tracks that makes a profit. I could be wrong tho.

[Kiwi_Chris]

I dont think the tracks make any profits from the race. I think Monaco, and Silverstone are the only tracks that makes a profit. I could be wrong tho.

I know Monaco is the only track to recieve money from the track advertising. Most of the profits from F1 go to Bernie

[schuperman]

And what about the Indy 500 tracks? Do they have a similar system?