Requirements to race in F1?
Discussion
Well, to start you need $48million to pay to Bernie to show you are serious.
Then you need some money for a HQ and some staff and designers
Machinery, race trucks, tools.
Sponsors - lots of 'em
Drivers
Engine Supplier
Tyre Deal
Lots of Testing/redesigning
Then get Bernies and the other 10 teams approval.
Then probably pay some more people an insanely huge amount of money
Then you might be able to start racing.
I would not like to even hazzard a guess at the amount it would cost to start a team from scratch, although Aguri Suzuki seems to have been able to do it....
>> Edited by nightdriver on Monday 30th January 22:47
Then you need some money for a HQ and some staff and designers
Machinery, race trucks, tools.
Sponsors - lots of 'em
Drivers
Engine Supplier
Tyre Deal
Lots of Testing/redesigning
Then get Bernies and the other 10 teams approval.
Then probably pay some more people an insanely huge amount of money
Then you might be able to start racing.
I would not like to even hazzard a guess at the amount it would cost to start a team from scratch, although Aguri Suzuki seems to have been able to do it....
>> Edited by nightdriver on Monday 30th January 22:47
Starting point is a $48m bond (it does get paid back over time). This doesn't apply if you buy an existing team.
Second - a car, for which you own intellectual rights, and which you have constructed yourself. You could not just buy a pair of last year's McLarens - you must buy the rights, and make new chassis.
Third - suppliers. Engines, tyres being the two major ones as they are the least likely that you could do in house.
Fourth - car approval. Most obviously one complete chassis to destroy. Nosecone & side impact tests are stringent and will waste that first car (and that assumes it gets through first time).
Fifth - a budget. Design, development, suppliers, travel and operational costs. And drivers. In your first year (assuming you did not buy an existing team) you do not get several automatic payments from Bernie (TV money, and shipping costs to the races). Your primary income will be sponsorship, and some prize money (if you are lucky). Excluding start-up, you should have a good $40m just to operate the team (Minardi were running a bit less than this, apparently, but even midfielders like Sauber were significantly higher).
Finally - Start-up. You need to build a facility, secure staff, design your first car (if you're remotely serious, you will test the first car for a year before building your first racer). So timewise you're looking at at least 18 months. Then, which facilities will you buy - rigs? wind tunnel? How long is a piece of string? I believe the last serious independent start-up (BAR) committed around $100m to this back in 1998-9, whereas Toyota would have been more like $300m.
Conversely, you could have bought Paul Stoddart out for something in the region of $30-40m IIRC (it might have been sterling), which if you did the deal correctly would have given you a basic running facility, TV money, and avoided the bond.
Second - a car, for which you own intellectual rights, and which you have constructed yourself. You could not just buy a pair of last year's McLarens - you must buy the rights, and make new chassis.
Third - suppliers. Engines, tyres being the two major ones as they are the least likely that you could do in house.
Fourth - car approval. Most obviously one complete chassis to destroy. Nosecone & side impact tests are stringent and will waste that first car (and that assumes it gets through first time).
Fifth - a budget. Design, development, suppliers, travel and operational costs. And drivers. In your first year (assuming you did not buy an existing team) you do not get several automatic payments from Bernie (TV money, and shipping costs to the races). Your primary income will be sponsorship, and some prize money (if you are lucky). Excluding start-up, you should have a good $40m just to operate the team (Minardi were running a bit less than this, apparently, but even midfielders like Sauber were significantly higher).
Finally - Start-up. You need to build a facility, secure staff, design your first car (if you're remotely serious, you will test the first car for a year before building your first racer). So timewise you're looking at at least 18 months. Then, which facilities will you buy - rigs? wind tunnel? How long is a piece of string? I believe the last serious independent start-up (BAR) committed around $100m to this back in 1998-9, whereas Toyota would have been more like $300m.
Conversely, you could have bought Paul Stoddart out for something in the region of $30-40m IIRC (it might have been sterling), which if you did the deal correctly would have given you a basic running facility, TV money, and avoided the bond.
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