BMW-SAUBER
Drivers Nick Heidfeld (Germany)
Robert Kubica (Poland)
Team principal Mario Theissen
Headquarters Germany and Switzerland
A selection of corporate partners Petronas, Intel, Credit Suisse, Dell, Puma, T-Systems
In a sport where the road is littered with the skeletons of failed attempts to make it to the grid, BMW has made great strides in its mere two and a half seasons as a team owner. The German carmaker learnt the ropes through six seasons of engine partnership with former world champions Williams before buying up the Sauber team in 2006.
It has taken the efficient but cash-strapped Swiss operation from strength to strength, building on important assets, such as the sport’s best windtunnel to raise the team to the sharp end of the grid.
The team’s sponsors are the most integrated in the business, providing much more than just cash. Intel, for example, has helped develop the team’s state-of-the-art supercomputer, affectionately known as “Albert”.
BMW have made some sensible decisions on drivers. Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica may not be the biggest names on the grid but they are quicker – and certainly cheaper – than a lot of them.
FERRARI
Drivers Felipe Massa (Brazil)
Kimi Räikkönen (Finland)
Team principal Stefano Domenicali
Headquarters Italy
A selection of corporate partners Marlboro, Shell, Alice, AMD, Fiat, Martini, Etihad Airways
Formula One’s oldest and most prestigious team are naturally its best sponsored. Marlboro alone pays $100m – more than any other team sponsor – for its association with Ferrari, even though anti-tobacco advertising laws mean that spaces where its logo would be on the cars are instead adorned with white lines.
Many F1 sponsorship experts say that the presence of tobacco deters other sponsors, but Ferrari appear to have no problems, with blue-chip companies such as Shell, AMD and Etihad Airways lining up on its cars.
The prancing horse galloped home with both championships last year and though other teams may spend more, none spends as wisely.
Finnish star driver Kimi Räikkönen proved well worth his $32m salary when he took the drivers’ title in 2007, plus two of the first four races this year, and Felipe Massa is a competent and trouble-free back-up.
FORCE INDIA
Drivers Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy)
Adrian Sutil (Germany)
Team principal Colin Kolles
Headquarters UK
A selection of corporate partners Kingfisher, ICICI Bank,
Medion, Kanyan Capital, Reliance Industries
The newest team in Formula One is also one of its most flamboyant. India has a patchy history in international motor sport and before this year its main influence on the sport had been through amiable also-ran Narain Karthikeyan.
Now billionaire Vijay Mallya has burst on to the scene and hopes that the “force of a billion” Indians, as the team’s advertising slogan goes, will overcome Force India’s paucity of budget and power it up the grid.
His ultimate strategy is to attract Indian companies as sponsors, but F1 is still unfamiliar to many in a country that prefers cricket, so it may be a slow job.
Giancarlo Fisichella is one of the most experienced drivers in the sport and his experience will help boost the team’s performance. Second driver Adrian Sutil has shown decent form and is a good bet to bring the car home in one piece.
HONDA
Drivers Rubens Barichello (Brazil)
Jenson Button (UK)
Team principal Ross Brawn
Headquarters UK
A selection of corporate partners Fila, NTN, Ray-Ban, Seiko, Eneos, NGK, Avaya
When Honda scrapped sponsorship in favour of a livery incorporating an image of the Earth in 2007, many believed their real motivation was a lack of funding. But the team have stuck with it and shows no sign of wavering.
The strategy has done little to increase the speed of the team, though their fortunes may be about to change. The new man at the wheel is Ross Brawn, the Englishman who guided Michael Schumacher to his seven world championships at Benetton and Ferrari respectively. The feeling is that if he cannot help Honda, then no one can.
Drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button must be wondering what happened to their once dazzling careers. While Button has at least won a race with Honda, Barrichello has had a miserable time since leaving Ferrari three seasons ago. As the oldest driver on the grid he is running out of time, but Button will be hoping that his commitment to Honda will pay off now that Brawn has arrived.
MCLAREN
Drivers Lewis Hamilton (UK)
Heikki Kovalainen (Finland)
Team principal Ron Dennis
Headquarters UK
A selection of corporate partners Vodafone, Mobil 1, Santander, Johnnie Walker, Aigo, Hugo Boss
After a disastrous 2007, when both championships slipped through their grasp, most people expected great things for McLaren in 2008. However, with Ferrari taking the early advantage in the championship, it has looked like the team had been wrong-footed by their woes.
With media sensation Lewis Hamilton at the wheel, a strong second driver in Heikki Kovalainen and
plentiful funding from part-owner Mercedes and an impressive portfolio of sponsors, McLaren have all the right ingredients of world champions.
Sponsors such as Vodafone and Santander are delighted by the opportunity to use Hamilton in their advertising campaigns, regardless of championship results – lucky for McLaren, who were thrown out of last year’s constructors’ title after they were found in possession of confidential data from Ferrari. But that saga may have damaged their chances for this season as well as last.
RED BULL
Drivers David Coulthard (UK)
Mark Webber (Australia)
Team principal Christian Horner
Headquarters UK
A selection of corporate partners Metro, Rauch, UGS, Siemens, Puma, MSC Software
When Red Bull Racing achieved the coup of signing $10m-a-year star designer Adrian Newey from McLaren in 2006 it was predicted to be the start of big things for the team. But success on the track has yet to materialise, although its marketing campaign has been altogether more effective.
Their owner, the energy drinks group, pours around $100m a year into the team, which carry minimal other branding on their cars, making them look like 200mph drinks cans. Toys, including a giant motorhome and the Formula Una girls, draw attention to the team, even when their on-track performance is unremarkable.
Veteran drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber make a steady but unsensational driver pairing – the oldest on the grid. Coulthard is the only driver with more miles on the clock than his team boss. At just 34, Christian Horner is the youngest team principal and two years younger than the Scottish star
RENAULT
Drivers Fernando Alonso (Spain)
Nelsinho Piquet (Brazil)
Team principal Flavio Briatore
Headquarters UK
A selection of corporate partners ING, Elf, Hanjin
Shipping, Puma, Chronotech, Pepe Jeans
Renault were unbeatable in 2005 and 2006, taking both championships in both years. But at the end of the latter season, champion driver Fernando Alonso left for McLaren and Renault were forced to rethink their design strategy after a key part was declared illegal – events that preceded a string of poor results.
On the bright side, the team’s finances have not taken such a dramatic hit and their title partner ING is one of the most recognised sponsors in the sport.
Alonso is back for 2008, following a torrid time at McLaren in 2007, but even the double world champion has struggled to consistently make a mark on this season. Inexperienced Nelsinho Piquet, once tipped as a talent to rival Lewis Hamilton, has not had a chance to shine due to inadequate equipment. Many believe that Renault’s best hope is to focus on 2009, when a slew of new regulations are likely to shake up the order.
TORO ROSSO
Drivers Sébastien Bourdais (France)
Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
Team principal Franz Tost
Headquarters Italy
A selection of corporate partners Siemens, Amik, Volkswagen, Puma
The Red Bull junior team is up for sale after billionaire drinks magnate Dietrich Mateschitz decided that his best strategy could be to dispose of one of his operations before 2010. That is when chassis-sharing between teams will be banned by F1 and Mateschitz reportedly paled at the cost of running two entirely separate aerodynamic departments.
In the meantime, Toro Rosso will remain a second billboard for his energy drink interests and a training ground for young drivers.
Sebastian Vettel has impressed widely in the short time he has been in F1, and an invitation to Red Bull Racing is believed to be on the cards for 2009.
His team-mate Sébastien Bourdais may not be quite so young, but he has fewer grands prix under his belt than Vettel, having missed out on F1 opportunities earlier in his career. He plied his trade in the US, where he won an unprecedented four successive Champ Car titles.
TOYOTA
Drivers Timo Glock (Germany)
Jarno Trulli (Italy)
Team principal Tadashi Yamashina
Headquarters Germany
A selection of corporate partners Panasonic, Denso, EMC2, Kingfisher Airlines
The world’s biggest carmaker has never succeeded in shaking off its image in F1 of spending heavily to achieve minimal results. Now in its seventh season, Toyota have never won a race and even podiums have been few and far between.
They are still the sport’s big spenders, however, with their parent pumping $300m a year into the team, and in 2007 they burned through an estimated $34.2m per point.
To make matters worse, they are regularly beaten by Williams, a much worse-funded team using the same engine. Toyota’s sponsorship portfolio is headed by Panasonic, which has been with the team since they began and now donates about $55m a year to its championship campaign.
Italian driver Jarno Trulli has only one win to his name after 11 years in the sport while German Timo Glock has little experience that would help him to make an impression.
WILLIAMS
Drivers Kazuki Nakajima (Japan)
Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Team principal Sir Frank Williams
Headquarters UK
A selection of corporate partners AT&T, RBS, Lenovo,
Air Asia, Petrobras, Reuters, Philips
Once the paradigm of a top F1 team, 16-times world champions Williams have fallen on hard times. In a sport dominated by teams owned by global car makers and billionaires, Williams have neither – though that hasn’t stopped them from showing up better-funded rivals on many occasions.
Nevertheless, the team posted a pre-tax loss of £34.8m in 2006, and though they are expected to have done much better financially in 2007 and 2008, they have no sugar daddy to help them catch their rivals.
Help could be on the horizon. Iceland’s Baugur Group provides the team with three of their biggest sponsors and paddock rumour has it that billionaire boss Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson would like to buy a slice of the team, if only co-owners Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head will let him.
Drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima are sons of former F1 drivers but have so far failed to match their fathers’ achievements.
SUPER AGURI
Drivers Takuma Sato (Japan)
Anthony Davidson (UK)
Team principal Aguri Suzuki
Headquarters Japan
A selection of corporate partners Honda, Nexsan,
Kinotrope, Matlan
Just six months before this year’s season started it looked like there would as many as 12 teams competing in Formula One for the first time since 2002. But just five races in, there were only 10.
The Prodrive team did not even make it on to the grid and pulled their entry last November. Super Aguri, which joined F1 two-and-a-half years ago, hit the buffers just before this month’s Turkish Grand Prix.
F1’s smallest outfit followed a rocky road in its short life. Short on sponsorship, Super Aguri was heavily indebted to Honda, which provided the chassis and engine as well as helping the smaller team out of tricky financial situations. This month, Honda ran out of patience. It was owed money and was unwilling to keep the struggling team afloat until they found a new backer.
Super Aguri had a few glorious moments in F1, but the team was never a frontrunner, even if it won a place in the hearts of fans for its antics.
Data provided by www.formulamoney.com
