WhiteBlue wrote:bot6 wrote:It's not quite correct to say that Vettel has no manager. He's been managed by the Red Bull team throughout his career.
Bovine manure. He spend years at BMW and Toro Rosso during his F1 career. How could he have been managed by Red Bull Racing? He was sponsored by Red Bull during his post cart career and he got some advise by Helmut Marko who runs the young driver program. His early business decisions were partially made with the help of his father but lately he is very much his own man. I think he did a pretty clever game with his last contract extension by fuelling the Ferrari and Mercedes rumours over the whole winter.
I think the distinction has been misenturpreted by both parties.
Seb may not have a noted 'manager' to date, but you can rest assured he would have several advisors, both financial, litigious and PR. He has not needed a markee manager to date as it could be argued he has been managed by RBR and Helmut. There was no question as to who had the rights to Sebs services should they desire them in F1. RBR were able to place Seb where they chose and then call him to the main team when they also chose to.
Look at Ricardios comments last year before his test role was announced, he said he was not sure what would happen this year but Helmut would make the right decisions for him. The young driver program costs big dollars, and you can bet the contracts Seb and Riccardio, Hartley etc... sign would bind them in a massive way to RBR and allow them to make the calls for a period of time. So yes they are basically 'managed' by that program. You could argue they are not managed by RBR as opposed to being part of the program or already employed. So perahps the 'management' was required when they were 15 years old and entered into the deal.
Basically Seb has won his championship in his first tenure with the team, we dont know the details of his contract but its safe to assume that both parties wanted to continue on, he just won the WDC so there would have been very little negotiation, each party would have know the ;going rate' so to speak.
Getting back on topic a bit, either way you look at Seb, Lewis and Ricciardo they either have been managed by their retrospective teams, or they have not needed a manager as they have been gainfully employed for a period of time and their entrance into f1 has been a progression of their employment.
But for all the other guys who are trying to break in and so forth, yes they should have managers and basically all do. Even though Webber & Alonso are not 'managed' officially by Flavio, they would still pay him and take his advice. There is too much money at stake in that game to not have the best advisor's around you, how they are labelled and how public-ally they are discussed will vary. But all of them out there would have teams of people that advise them.
Perhaps the perceived difference is how its structured. Lets say you are Lewis and have not had a 'manager', you still would have had to fork out lots of cash to have your contracts looked over, to have a receptionist take calls, hire a negotiator and make appointments etc... that might equate to 15% of your sallary. Then you hire a manager (Simon) and he charges you 20% but it covers everything. Its all the same thing but just appears to be different.
