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| In a rich man’s world |
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| Written by Kate Walker | |||
| Monday, 08 February 2010 17:30 | |||
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Thanks to the financial instability of at least one of this year’s new entrants it seems that this winter break, far from being bereft of stories, has been more active than some sports’ competitive seasons. The money, or lack thereof, is only of limited interest. Which isn’t to say the rumours flying around USF1, Campos Meta, Dallara, and Tony Teixeira aren’t interesting, merely that it’s the same story, with the same details, trotted out once every couple of weeks. The teams are in debt, bills are unpaid, then they’re paid, and then the teams are back in debt (or similar versions thereof). Pretty obvious really – if you look at it from a personal finance point of view, there are a lot of people out there who run out of money before the end of the month, and spend their days scratching from pay cheque to pay cheque. (Not me, nosireebob, oh no. Ahem.) While you’d hope that a business venture with an international profile would be better with their cash than a twenty-something girlracer with a passion for shoes, that doesn’t seem to be the case for some of 2010’s newbies. And all the better for fans like you and me, as the lack of certainty surrounding both USF1 and Campos Meta means that both teams have yet to finalise their 2010 driver line-ups, leading to months of speculation. I’m sure there have been times when the grid wasn’t complete with just over a month to go till the first race, but I can’t remember them off-hand. My seat-tracking spreadsheet took shape much more slowly than usual this silly season, and I couldn’t tell you how many times Jaime Alguersuari’s name was added, then removed, then added again and again and again. Last week saw Adrian Valles’ name emerge as a strong contender for the second seat at USF1. The Spanish driver secured a first place for Liverpool in the 2009 Superleague Formula, a result which will have tempered the disappointment of coming 17th in the 2009 Renault World Series and 40th in the 2008-9 GP2 Asia series. Valles has a strong background in karting, and has competed in a broad spectrum of motorsport – in addition to karts, Superleague, and GP2, he has popped up in 24 Hours of Le Mans, 100km of Silverstone, and a number of World Series. In 2007, he was signed by the ill-fated Spyker F1 team as their test driver. If the USF1 rumours prove true, this will be Valles’ first season with an F1 race seat. While USF1 have been quiet of late, that’s no bad thing. Until they fail to arrive in Bahrain, I’m going to assume they’ve been too busy prepping for the season to bother with the media song and dance. The news from Spain isn’t looking quite so optimistic. Over the weekend Adrian Campos lashed out at the doubters – myself included – who are less than confident in his team’s finances. “People are saying a lot of stupid things. Some are true and some are not. We are working very hard to be in Bahrain. “Sometimes we pay the [instalment of] €7 million to Dallara, and sometimes we don't have the money. We are trying to solve the problem,” he said. “They can't [sell the chassis' onto Stefan GP] – we have a contract with them.” Although I’m not a lawyer, that comment sounds like it fits in Adrian’s stupid things category. One of the reasons a contract works is that it makes demands of both parties – you turn up to work and do your job, therefore your employer pays you. You pay rent, therefore your landlord maintains the roof over your head. Simples. But the team boss seems to think otherwise. Or maybe he’s got the best lawyers in the world, a team capable of drawing up a contract that requires Dallara to deliver a chassis whether or not they’re paid. I doubt that very much. Other news sites are running with the story that today is ‘D-day’ for the team, although I’ve found no confirmation of that. Rather, Spain’s Diario AS is reporting that has until Wednesday to pay Dallara outstanding debts of €4 million. According to the Spanish news outfit, failure to pay up by Wednesday will mean the Campos chassis will be sold to Bernie’s pick for top of the understudies, Stefan GP. While Ecclestone has recently confirmed that the Concorde Agreement allows all teams to miss up to three races without being chucked out of the championship, that allowance will mean nothing to the Spanish racers if they lose their chassis to a rival team. Reports that Tony Teixeira will be investing in the team should be taken with a pillar of salt. It was widely believed that the South African businessman and mastermind of the debt-ridden A1GP series would be giving Campos a healthy wodge of cash at some point today, but the money has yet to materialise. Given that Teixeira owes millions to Ferrari, and is being sued by the Australian government for monies owed (although there has also been mention of fraud charges in that particular suit), I’m not sure where the Campos money’s supposed to come from. Energem, one of Teixeira’s key business interests, lost around $54 million to A1GP debts, and as a result the company’s stocks are no longer being traded by the London Stock Exchange. Even the rich men can’t afford today’s Formula 1. Kate Walker for Girlracer Magazine
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| Last Updated on Monday, 08 February 2010 16:34 |
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As far as the Campos payment/contract thing goes, it does make a bit of sense--my family owns a business and while we're not dealing with money anywhere near this scope, I figure it acts as a smaller example of what might be going on: Sometimes people have payment plans to help them along and sometimes they miss a few payments, but as long as they've paid the majority of payments, there's a general sense that they will eventually pay it all off, and this is allowed to happen because we'll still be getting our money in the end and because if someday they're in a better financial situation, they'll continue buying from us. It might not be ideal, but if Campos somehow manages to make it to the races and somehow manages to get more sponsorship, it could mean they'll be spending a lot more money in the future. Though, this all comes down to what ...