DaveKillens wrote:Although Ferrari and Maserati are distinct organizations within FIAT, I just cannot get by the board of directors.
Let's assume the board allows Ferrari 300 million Euros for it's 2010 racing venture. Now let's also assume Maserati are also racing in F1, but are budgeted for just 40 million Euros. Then what if the unthinkable happens, and Maserati does decently? How can anyone approach a board of directors and justify spending 260 million more than someone almost as successful?
It's nice wishful thinking to see maserati back racing against Ferrari, but the harsh economics of running a major corporation like FIAT make this almost impossible.
Good point, it could lead to potential embarrassing marketing situations for both teams, or marques rather, and also the board feeling like the pissed away money, but if they are thinking for the betterment of the group as a whole surely they could take the broader view and say: 'ok guys, we have an oppurtunity to have two teams in F1, but we're spending the same amount of money as we did last year. we can see which budget option is best by trying them both.' and if a situation like dave pointed out does occur (the 'B' team on the 40mil budget beats the open budget team) they can say to the board: 'right, that didnt work we'll have two teams on the 40m budget next year.' that might sound a little wasteful in these times but remember, they were probably gonnna spend that amout of money anyway.
And dont forget alot of the money spent on masratti will be cycled back into ferrari, maseratti buying customer ferrari engines/gearbox say... all these synergies are easy to spin to a board who has always had, up until now maybe, an unflinching commitment to F1.
Slife wrote: Would it be possible, that FIAT run a Ferrari and Maserati team with the 40mil cap ?
But could they share some costs because the teams are allowed to do that right ?
This could help Ferrari slim down because, Ferrari could take away some of its personnel to go to Maserati.
Would it be possible, that FIAT run a Ferrari and Maserati team with the 40mil cap ?
But could they share some costs because the teams are allowed to do that right ?
This could help Ferrari slim down because, Ferrari could take away some of its personnel to go to Maserati.
i donno how the rules are structured i.r.o the structure of two teams, i'll try find out and repost with more info, im sure there are rules prohibiting a direct situation like this were it is two teams disguised as one, but even if you take a situation where the two teams are treated entirely as two different entities, there could be subtle information sharing between the two teams, the unrestricted team working on the aero interaction common to the two cars, or the restricted team makes a design change to the KERS that is also useable and viable on the open budget 60kw 6 sec version.
And dont forget the customer engine/gearbox/KERS trend could be beneficial as the maseratti team could buy engines from ferrari but have them still badged maseratti. apart from that they could use the ferrari wind tunnel and ferrari already uses fiats supercomputer so why not maseratti too.
i guess it all depends on the laws that define so called 'customer cars' and engines and the lot next year.
slightly off topic what do you think RBR/STR are going to do next year? im sure they will go with a split like this or do they need to completely restructure under the current rules? i'll try find out and repost soon.
A wise man once told me you cant polish a turd...
