BBF1_2013_NO_CONTACTS

2013
11
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Section One - Team by team 2013
Red Bull: 12
Ferrari: 18
McLaren: 26
Lotus: 34
Mercedes: 42
Sauber: 50
Section Two - Circuits 2013
Australia: 94
Malaysia: 98
China: 100
Bahrain: 102
Spain: 106
Monaco: 108
Canada: 112
Britain: 116
Germany: 118
Hungary: 122
Force India: 58
Williams: 64
Toro Rosso: 72
Caterham: 78
Marussia: 86
Belgium: 126
Italy: 128
Singapore: 130
Korea: 132
Japan: 134
India: 136
Abu Dhabi: 140
USA: 144
Brazil: 150
Section Three - Statistics and Insights
Statistics: 154
Section Four - Contacts
Contacts: 162
Section Five - Luxury
Introduction: 282
Amber Lounge: 292
Gallery 2012: 300
New York: 306
EDITORIAL
David Cushnan
Eoin Connolly
DESIGN
Stuart Wright
PRODUCTION
Daniel Brown
LISTINGS
Rahul Bhatt
PHOTOGRAPHS
Action Images
Press Association
COMMERCIAL
Nick Meacham
Peter Jones
Richard Partridge
William Dobson
Bhav Sahota
Jessica Meade
OPERATIONS
Yéwandé Aruleba
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BLACK BOOK 2013 l 3

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The 2013 agenda
As the teams move towards
a new Concorde Agreement,
2013 promises to be as
dramatic a year off the track
as on it
All the evidence of pre-season
testing indicated, if nothing else,
that the 2013 Formula One world
championship will be closely fought
on the track, with a fast-improving
Lotus and a rejuvenated Mercedes
poised to challenge the established big
three of Red Bull Racing, McLaren
and Ferrari over the 19-race season.
As ever, though, that is but one part
of the story. Commercial intrigue and
high politics have been at the heart
of Formula One for decades, and the
business soap opera behind the scenes
was as enthralling as ever as the 2013
grid assembled and the lights went out
in Melbourne for the opening Grand
Prix of the year.
Top of the agenda for Formula One
stakeholders is the finalisation of a new
version of the Concorde Agreement,
the complex but critical document
which binds the 11 teams to the sport’s
rule-makers and commercial rights
holder. As the 2013 season began,
there was no signed agreement in
place. Whilst that is not ideal, it is
not a commercial calamity; indeed,
all the indications are that a deal will
be struck, likely to cover the period
between 2013 and 2020. The fiscal
element, an inevitable sticking point in
the past whenever a new commercial
agreement has been negotiated, is not
an issue: agreement has been reached
between Formula One Group, which
holds the sport’s commercial rights, and
the teams over the share of revenues,
garnered from venues and broadcast
rights fees, the competitors will receive.
While the deals are believed to have
guaranteed each team a larger share
of the piece, there has, once again,
been no collective bargaining – a
strategy which might have resulted in
an even greater percentage of the pot
heading their way. Instead, teams have
negotiated separately and have accepted
contracts which factor in elements such
as their individual histories and recent
records. Ferrari and Red Bull Racing
have emerged as the biggest winners.
While the financial discussions have
largely been concluded – only lowly
Marussia was awaiting a commercial
offer as the season began in March
– there remains a little way to go on
the way future sporting and technical
regulations are decided, with the
teams and the sport’s sanctioning
body, the FIA, all keen on as large an
influence as possible. The importance
of a binding, long-term agreement
is paramount given the wider issue
facing Formula One in 2013, with
CVC, the majority shareholders of
Formula One Group, planning to float
a percentage of the business at some
point. When, precisely, nobody
6 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Red Bull’s new title sponsor,
Infiniti, is just one of the
brands to have sought a
deeper involvement in
Formula One this year
knows but there has already been one
attempt, which was quickly aborted
last year as Facebook’s very public
wobbles became clear.
Speaking in an exclusive interview
with the official Formula One website
in March, Bernie Ecclestone, the chief
executive of Formula One Group,
suggested that a decision on when to
float would be taken in the next three
months. “Last year I thought that the
markets were not ready,” he said, “but
now it is getting more likely that there
is an opportunity.”
However, as Formula One and
CVC seek long-term investment, there
remain fundamental questions about
the future leadership of the sport.
Ecclestone is now 82 and while he
remains as active – not to mention
shrewd – as ever, the time is coming
when questions over a viable succession
plan will require some concrete
answers. There is little public evidence
of CVC formulating that plan,
although there is clearly a more formal
structure being assembled at Formula
One Management headquarters in
London. Understandably, perhaps,
few in the sport are willing to publicly
voice an opinion about the stewardship
of Formula One post-Ecclestone, but
would-be investors will require at
least some kind of insight about
what is planned.
Despite a significant rise in the
commercial revenues teams will
receive under the new deals, which
run until 2020, the lifeblood of a
Formula One team remains investment
by sponsors. In this regard, it has
been a positive off-season for the
sport – despite the failure of the
tiny Spanish HRT team, which was
forced to close its doors after three
seasons. For the 11 remaining teams,
times are undoubtedly tough but
new sponsorship money is coming
in: BlackBerry has joined forces with
Mercedes in a deal said to be worth
US$36 million over three years,
and UPS has signed a wide-ranging
partnership with Ferrari, which
includes Formula One as a significant
element. At a smaller level Coca-
Cola has followed Unilever’s lead as
a consumer brand entering the sport,
signing a deal with the Lotus team for
its Burn energy drink. Deeper, more
integrated partnerships are forming
up and down the pit-lane: Lotus’
agreement with Microsoft Dynamics,
which includes distinct commercial
and technical elements, offering a case
in point.
Even Red Bull Racing, which has
been largely fuelled by the energy drink
dollars provided by its parent company
since 2005, has joined the sponsorship
8 l BLACK BOOK 2013

2013
party, securing its first title partner in
the form of Nissan-owned luxury car
maker Infiniti. At McLaren, however,
the hunt is on for a new title sponsor
after Vodafone confirmed months of
rumours by announcing in March it
would not be extending its agreement
with the team beyond the end of 2013.
In terms of central sponsorship,
Formula One has perhaps never had it
so good. Major new deals were struck
over the winter with Rolex, which will
see its green and gold corporate colours
displayed at every race in its new role
as the sport’s official timekeeper, and
Dubai-based airline Emirates.
“Formula One is one of the only
true global sponsorships and what I
mean by that is it goes to different
markets every other week, for six
to eight months of the year,” said
Emirates’ head of sponsorship Roger
Duthie, in an interview with SportsPro
when the deal was announced in
February. “It literally is a global
sponsorship. We’ve always looked at
partnerships that are prestigious, world
class and, right now more importantly
for us, that epitomise a lifestyle
brand. That’s what we are trying to
accomplish. We want to move from
a travel brand to a lifestyle brand and
that’s why we signed up with Formula
One. It ticks all the boxes for us.”
Duthie was full of praise for the way
Ecclestone and Formula One worked
on putting the deal, which involves
branding at every race without an
existing airline sponsorship, together.
“One thing he said to us when we did
the contract was, ‘Let’s put the contract
aside now and let’s just make this work
– if you guys need anything else, you
just let us know and we’ll work with
you,’” he added. “We said the same
thing. We felt right away from the
get-go the partnership is going to be
strong. I have nothing but accolades for
Bernie and his team.”
Emirates’ branding will be visible
at 15 of the 19 Grands Prix in 2013,
with the calendar reducing in size by
one race for this year. The European
Grand Prix, held since 2008 in the
financially crippled city of Valencia,
is off, while a proposed second race
in the United States, on the streets of
New Jersey with Manhattan’s skyline
as a backdrop, has been postponed
until 2014. A new Grand Prix in
Russia is also scheduled for 2014 in the
Olympic city of Sochi, but the 2013
calendar features no new events.
Despite the loss of one race it remains
a punishing season for all involved, not
least as this year there are but seven
races in Europe, where all 11 teams
continue to be based. Longer-term, it
will probably make more financial sense
for a Formula One team to be based
somewhere in the Middle East, where
Asia is more easily accessible.
Of more immediate concern is the
delicate economics of staging a Grand
Prix, especially at venues which lack a
direct annual injection of funds
by government.
In a sporting and technical sense,
meanwhile, 2013 will provide an
additional test for teams, each of which
will have at least one eye on the many
technical regulation changes that will
come into effect in 2014. Teams will
spend much of this season calculating
the trade-off they must make between
concentrating resources on developing
this season’s cars and focusing on
maximising the all-new package they
must produce next year.
Like so much in this everfascinating
business, it will be a
question of compromise.
David Cushnan
Editor
Bernie Ecclestone has built
Formula One in his own
image but, at 82, he cannot
keep speculation about
potential successors quiet
for much longer
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 9

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Section One
Team by team 2013
1
Red Bull: 12
Ferrari: 18
McLaren: 26
Lotus: 34
Mercedes: 42
Sauber: 50
Force India: 58
Williams: 64
Toro Rosso: 72
Caterham: 78
Marussia: 86

Red Bull Racing
There was another double
world crown for Red Bull
Racing in 2012 but only
after the technical team
had got to grips with new
regulations and got the RB7
up to peak performance
2012 in review: champions again
To win a single world championship
is a good achievement, to win
two is great, but to win three is
truly magnificent. Constructors’
championship included, the Milton
Keynes-based team fuelled by Dietrich
Mateschitz’s Austrian energy drink
dollars has now taken six of the last
six Formula One titles. A period of
sustained success is close to becoming
an era of dominance. In just eight
seasons, Red Bull Racing has become
one of the world’s great sports teams.
Sebastian Vettel’s third successive
drivers’ title and a third constructors’
championship in a row, however,
came at the end of a 2012 season that
was, for a variety of reasons, far more
challenging for the team than either
its breakthrough year in 2010 or its
dominant 2011.
While Vettel and chief technical
officer Adrian Newey – rightly regarded
as one of the greatest technical minds
the sport has ever known – took the
majority of plaudits at the end of a
hard-fought season, team principal
Christian Horner deserves a huge
amount of credit for the way he
mobilised his troops, kept motivation
high during an energy-sapping 20-race
campaign and a highly pressurised
championship battle. Horner radiates
an air of calm, save for his telltale
nervous foot-tapping on the pit-wall,
and has built a team that is the envy of
the pit-lane. Operationally, Red Bull
Racing is quite superb.
Team players
“They have always worked hard,”
Horner said of his charges at the end
of the season, “but this year has by
far been our toughest challenge, it
has been the hardest championship –
constructors’ and drivers’ – as we have
really had to fight our way back into
them and that has made it the most
gratifying in many respects.”
The beginning of the year was
especially difficult as Newey and his
technical squad tried to get to grips
with regulation changes outlawing
blown diffusers, an area where the
team had excelled in previous seasons,
and initially unpredictable Pirelli
tyres. While they worked on a fix,
the team found itself in the unusual
position of not being able to fight
for victories; it wasn’t until race four,
in Bahrain, that Vettel scored his
first maximum of the year and even
then Red Bull was nowhere near
the supreme force of 2011. Newey’s
efforts paid off, however, and by the
end of the season the team had the
car to beat once more, a significant
package of upgrades introduced prior
to the Singapore Grand Prix resulting
in four successive victories which all
but confirmed another constructors’
title and thrust Vettel back into
championship contention.
Politically, meanwhile, Red Bull
felt comfortable enough with its
newfound status as one of the sport’s
standout teams to break away from
the Formula One Teams’ Association
(FOTA) and follow Ferrari in seeking
its own long-term commercial deal
with the Formula One Group, at a
stroke removing the prospect of all the
teams striking a collective arrangement
with Bernie Ecclestone and CVC for
12 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
After the cakewalk of
2011, Sebastian Vettel
was made to play catchup
in 2012, eventually
overhauling Fernando
Alonso after 16 races
and confirming his
greatness by completing
a hat-trick of world titles
the period up to 2020.
Commercially, there was a clear sign
of the team’s growing self-confidence
at the end of the season when it was
confirmed that Infiniti – the luxury
car arm of Japanese manufacturer
Nissan – was to upgrade its partnership
and become title sponsor, as well as a
technical collaborator, from 2013. It is
the first time Red Bull Racing has sold
a title sponsorship position.
Vettel joins the greats
For Vettel, the route to a third
world title in a row – a feat matched
only by Juan Manuel Fangio and
Michael Schumacher – was rather less
straightforward than 2011. A patchy
start to the season saw him rack up
good points when the car was not at
its most competitive, although his
copybook was blotted by tagging
backmarker Narain Karthikeyan in
Malaysia. Even then, few would have
believed that April’s victory at the
controversial Bahrain Grand Prix would
be his last until the end of September,
when he returned to the top step
in Singapore. In between he scored
consistently, if not spectacularly, falling
as many as 40 points behind Fernando
Alonso at one stage during the summer.
Two damaging alternator failures –
for which the team placed the blame
subtly, if squarely, at the feet of engine
supplier Renault – in Valencia, whilst
leading comfortably, and at Monza,
were particularly costly.
Post-Italy, however, Vettel flew.
He dominated Formula One’s new
Asian swing, scoring 100 points
from a possible 100 with successive
wins in Singapore, Japan, Korea and
India, wrestling back control of the
championship in the process. In Abu
Dhabi, however, he was sent to the back
of the grid after the team fuelled him
short in qualifying, meaning there was
not enough of a sample for the FIA
to inspect. Red Bull started him from
the pit-lane with an aggressive new
set-up and Vettel drove superbly, whilst
admittedly riding his luck on occasion,
to reach the podium and limit the points
loss to second-placed Alonso. Finishing
runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in Texas
meant Vettel was the firm favourite
heading to the season finale in Brazil;
first-lap contact, a spin to the back of
the field, a recovery in mixed weather
with a damaged car and, ultimately,
sixth place was enough to claim a third
championship at a sprightly 25 years of
age in the most dramatic of fashions.
While the relentless Vettel joined
the greats, Mark Webber had a Mark
Webber kind of season. There were
magnificent highs, such as a brilliantly
controlled drive to win the Monaco
Grand Prix and victory at Silverstone,
where he stalked, then passed, Alonso
late in the race. But there also came
a series of anonymous races where he
was never in contention for a podium.
The team barely hesitated in re-signing
the Australian for 2013 mid-season,
although his championship challenge
faded in frustrating fashion soon
afterwards. For Webber, the statistics
are stark: since 2009, the year Vettel
took Red Bull Racing’s first victory,
the German has collected 264.5 more
points, 24 more pole positions and won
16 more Grands Prix. Webber is an
excellent Grand Prix driver no doubt,
but he is paired with a truly great one.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 13

There will be a slightly
unfamiliar look to Adrian
Newey’s RB8, with a tinge
of purple added to the Red
Bull colour scheme after
the arrival of the team’s
first title sponsor, luxury car
brand Infiniti
2013: Business
Red Bull Racing has a target on its back
going into 2013, nearly nine years after
the energy drink’s founder Dietrich
Mateschitz took the plunge and bought
the soon-to-be-closed Jaguar team from
Ford at the end of the 2004 season.
They are the team everyone must beat
if they want a shot at winning a world
championship this year.
It took a while for Red Bull
Racing to reach the lofty position
it now occupies, but the key early
decisions have been worth their
weight in gold: Christian Horner,
then a Formula 3000 team boss, was
hired immediately to head up the
team going into its debut season in
2005. Nine years on, he has firmly
established himself as one of the
sport’s elite team principals.
Backed by Mateschitz – who
maintains a watching brief and has
Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport
consultant, installed with the team
as his eyes and ears at the race track
– Horner navigates the politics of
the team and Formula One with
considerable nous. His primary job
this season, on the face of it, would
appear to be keeping motivation high
after three successive years of glittering
success. If the strings are ultimately
pulled in Austria, Red Bull Racing’s
heart is certainly in Milton Keynes,
where the team itself is based.
“The way we work is open and
transparent,” Horner said, speaking in
February. “We concentrate on being
a Formula One team and nothing
more. Our focus is very much on going
racing and trying to get the best out
of ourselves. Even when we’ve had
very good weekends – and very good
years – we know there are always areas
in which we can make improvements.”
Horner, who signed a new contract
with Red Bull over the winter, is also
tasked with tying down key assets
Adrian Newey and Sebastian Vettel to
long-term contracts.
Commercially, there is an increasing
maturity about the team too. Infiniti
14 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Vettel is now the
undisputed team
leader at Red Bull but
faces the pressure of
being the undoubted
favourite for a fourth
straight world
championship win
has upped its investment in the team to
become its first title sponsor, its purple
corporate colours integrated into the
now-familiar car livery. “While the
first two years was all about visibility
and brand awareness, I think now
this is our chance to go deeper into
shaping opinion and getting people
to understand that we make cars and
not speakers or a bank or insurance
product,” said Andreas Sigl, the Nissanowned
luxury car manufacturer’s global
director of Formula One. “We will be
more visible, but I think in a tasteful
and creative way.”
An increased technical collaboration
is a new component of the deal, which
represents a natural progression in
the relationship for Horner. “The
exciting thing for Red Bull Racing as
an independent team is that previously
we haven’t had access to the type of
R&D facilities a group like Infiniti
and Nissan has at its disposal,” he
said. “It’s exciting for us and our
engineering group to have those
opportunities. We have a number of
different initiatives already running on
future technologies and future projects
and more in the pipeline for the
duration of this relationship.
Horner added: “This type of
partnership is part of the evolution of
the team. It’s something that Red Bull
wanted to do when we first came into
Formula One but we wanted to do
it with the right partner. We’ve been
selective in who we’ve looked at. The
relationship with Infiniti has grown
over the past couple of years and has
naturally developed into a
title partnership.”
Red Bull’s crop of other
longstanding partners, including
beer brand Singha, Total, Geox,
Casio and Pepe Jeans, predictably
remain on board for 2013. Topped
up by its parent company’s substantial
investment, an upscaled deal with
Infiniti, and its latest championshipwinning
share of centralised funding
from the Formula One Group, the
team’s budget is one of the healthiest
in the pit-lane.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 15

Red Bull team principal
Christian Horner began as
one of the youngest team
principals in the history of
Formula One. Now, as one
of the most successful, his
biggest task will be keeping
his all-conquering team
hungry for the challenges
that lie ahead.
2013: Sporting
The RB9, the ninth Red Bull Racing
Formula One car, was launched at the
team’s headquarters in Milton Keynes
on the first weekend of February, a
base where the two-storey trophy
cabinet in reception underlines just
how successful it has been since
recording its first Grand Prix victory
in 2009 and its first titles a year later.
The car is, predictably enough,
an evolution of the championshipwinning
RB8. “It’s all in the details
rather than saying the gains are in this
or that,” said chief technical officer
Adrian Newey in February.
“We’ve tidied up some bits we
thought could be improved upon –
but as is usual these days, this is a car
in transition. There will be one or
two new parts appearing by the first
race, which I’m sure is the same for
everybody. After that it’s going to be
about development through the year.”
While Newey is readying himself
for a season-long development race,
he, like his fellow technical chiefs up
and down the pit-lane, is acutely aware
of the balance that needs to be struck
between 2013 car development and
ensuring the team is ready for the 2014
season, when a series of major technical
regulation changes come into effect.
Newey has conceded it will require
some “difficult decisions” about
resourcing in 2013. “We’ve got heads
of department Rob Marshall [chief
designer], Peter Prodromou [head of
aerodynamics] and Mark Ellis [chief
engineer, vehicle dynamics] wearing two
hats now: overseeing 2014 but also all
putting effort into 2013,” he said. “It’s a
difficult balance and one each team will
handle differently, probably depending
on how their 2013 championship
is going. The teams that feel they’re
in with a chance this year will keep
pushing, those that have their future
secure but aren’t in a title fight will
probably switch their efforts earlier.” In
2011, Red Bull secured a new five-year
deal to be a premium partner of engine
supplier Renault, with whom close
collaboration will be essential as the new
1.6-litre V6 turbo era dawns.
For the fifth consecutive season
Red Bull Racing will field the same
driver line-up, with Sebastian Vettel
chasing his fourth consecutive world
championship and Mark Webber
retained for a seventh year. The
Australian hesitated only slightly before
signing a one-year extension to his
contract midway through last season
son
but again faces the challenging g prospect
pect
of going head-to-head with the all-
l
conquering champion. There is one
key change this year: Webber has a new
16 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Red Bull Racing
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total Value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Red Bull US$110m* November 2004 Ongoing Owner Beverage
Infiniti US$31m* March 2011 December 2016 Title partner Automotive
Total US$18m* February 2009 Undisclosed Team Partner Oil/Fuel
Rauch US$4m* February 2005 Undisclosed Team Partner Beverage
Geox US$2m* February 2011 Undisclosed Team Partner Fashion
Pepe Jeans US$2m* February 2010 Undisclosed Team Partner Fashion
Casio US$0.8m* January 2005 December 2013 Team Partner Watch
Singha Beer US$0.5m* March 2010 Undisclosed Team Partner Beverage
Platform Computing US$0.5m Janaury 2007 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Technology
Siemens US$1m Janaury 2005 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Technology
ANSYS US$0.3m January 2010 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Technology
Hexagon Metrology US$0.5m January 2007 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Technology
DMG US$0.3m May 2010 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Automotive
OZ Wheels US$0.2m January 2009 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Automotive
PWR Performance US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Innovation Partner Automotive
Other Income
FOM TV US$95m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$266.2m
race engineer, with former Lotus man
Simon Rennie replacing Lotus-bound
Ciaron Pilbeam.
Over the winter, Webber also had
to contend with the typically unsubtle
public musings of Helmut Marko,
Red Bull’s motorsport consultant.
“It seems to me that Webber has on
average two races per year where he is
unbeatable, but he can’t maintain this
form throughout the year,” Marko told
Red Bull’s Red Bulletin magazine. “And
as soon as his prospects start to look
good in the world championship, he
has a little trouble with the pressure
that this creates.” Factually sound it
may have been, it was hardly what
Webber needed to hear from, in theory
at least, one of his own. “Everyone has
their own agendas and it’s been evident
for a long time now that I’ve never
been a part of Marko’s,” was Webber’s
terse response. More than ever, Webber
is racing in a team built around Vettel.
The German goes into only his fifth full
season in Formula One as an obvious
championship favourite.
TOTAL
US $18m
RED BULL
US $110m
INFINITI
US $31m
RAUCH
US $4m
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 17

Ferrari
Ferrari made a better start
than might have been
expected in 2012 given the
poor performance of its
car in early testing and in
qualifying at Melbourne
2012 in review: so near and yet so far
When Fernando Alonso skittled
backwards into the gravel trap during
qualifying for the season-opening
Australian Grand Prix he could hardly
have dared imagine that 20 races and
the best part of eight months later he
would finish just three points shy of
a third world championship – and
after, in all probability, the season of
his career.
Ferrari qualified 12th and 16th on
the grid in Melbourne, a not entirely
unexpected showing following dreadful
testing form. The car, with its stepped
front section, was as ugly as it was slow.
It didn’t get much prettier, but at least
lap times improved over the course
of the year. Alonso’s dramatic victory
in the rain-soaked Malaysian Grand
Prix, the year’s second race, was a huge
surprise and instilled some muchneeded
confidence in a team that had
been widely condemned in Italy after
such a dismal start.
Reflecting on the season, team
principal Stefano Domenicali – a man
under pressure at the best of times, not
only from the Italian public but also
Ferrari president and showman Luca
di Montezemolo – said simply: “What
was lacking was the car, despite the
fact we staged a recovery after a very
complicated start.”
Alonso’s stellar year
In the middle part of the season,
Alonso made the most of some muchneeded
improvements to the car; he
scored in each of the first 11 races,
including six podiums, and took a
quite brilliant victory, from 11th on
the grid, at home in Valencia. It was a
result which sparked a rare outbreak of
tears on the podium and was perhaps
the highlight of a truly extraordinary
season from the Spaniard. He was
opportunistic whenever he could be,
whether it was in taking advantage
of the weather at Silverstone and
Hockenheim to put the car higher on
the grid than it deserved to be – he
finished second and first in those
races – or in a series of swashbuckling
first laps. Even on the occasions when
Ferrari erred on strategy – in Canada
and Britain Alonso found himself out
front in the late laps only for rivals on
fresher rubber to pass – it was largely
because of him that the team was in a
potentially winning position.
“I’d score Fernando’s season a ten,”
Domenicali said. “He is a fantastic
driver, who combines his amazing talent
with our group of people, protective
when he needs to be and pushing in
the right direction when things are not
going as they should. It’s a privilege to
have him as part of our team.”
It is also remarkable that Alonso
has not been world champion since
2006 but has now lost three world
championships, in 2007, 2010 and
2012, at the final race of the season.
Nonetheless, he is currently the sport’s
most complete driver and undoubtedly
18 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Fernando Alonso again
carried Ferrari on his
shoulders in 2012,
producing a string of
fine drives and, for the
third time in his career,
only missing out on
the drivers’ title at the
final race
one of the greatest it has known.
Alonso’s consistency meant that,
despite at no point having the fastest
car, he was still able to lead the world
championship for much of the summer.
Two first-corner incidents, however,
proved dramatic setbacks in his title
challenge. At Spa he was deeply
unfortunate to be taken out by a piece
of driving by Romain Grosjean that was
rash at best and brainless at worst; at
the same time, Alonso was lucky not to
be seriously injured as Grosjean’s Lotus
slashed across the front of the Ferrari’s
cockpit. The incident at the start of the
Japanese Grand Prix was less clearcut,
Alonso and Raikkonen brushing
together in the rush to turn one, cutting
the Ferrari’s tyre.
Teamwork rules
Ultimately, the team did not build a
car capable of winning the title and
late in the season it was abundantly
clear that the technical department,
now led by former McLaren man Pat
Fry, was not able to extract any more
performance. Alonso found himself
relying increasingly on flying starts,
having often qualified well down the
grid. Operationally, however, the team
was near flawless. “We definitely had
the best driver, the best reliability and
a level of excellence when it comes to
the work on the pit wall and during the
pit-stops,” Domenicali said. “We also
lacked a bit of luck, especially with the
incidents at Spa and Suzuka.”
Ferrari also stretched the spirit of
the sporting regulations to the limit,
deliberately breaking a seal on Felipe
Massa’s gearbox before the race in Texas
and activating a five-place grid penalty
for the Brazilian. The team reasoned
that by moving Massa, who, unusually,
had out-qualified Alonso, the senior
driver would switch to the cleaner side
of the grid and have the best chance
of capitalising at the start. It was more
than a little cynical but nobody could
argue that it didn’t work like a dream;
Alonso finished the race third and kept
himself in title contention.
Taken as a whole Massa had
a very poor seventh season with
Ferrari, although his form improved
considerably late in the year. A contract
extension, granted after months of
speculation that Ferrari were looking
for a replacement, probably helped.
The Brazilian scored points in each
of the last ten races with two podium
finishes, a second place at Suzuka and
an emotional third at home in Brazil.
His most impressive drive, however,
was arguably his recovery from that
team-induced 12th on the grid to
fourth in Austin. However, the start of
the year was forgettable: five times he
finished outside the points, a situation
exacerbated by the relative miracles
Alonso was performing in the same
car. Massa stays for 2013, but unless
there is a major improvement in form it
looks likely to be his swansong year for
the team.
Ferrari, largely via di Montezemolo,
continued to offer strident opinions
on several aspects of the sport in 2012,
including cost-cutting measures and
the lack of testing. In commercial
terms, however, the team is well set.
It broke away from the Formula One
Teams’ Association (FOTA) before
the start of the season and, as has
become traditional, negotiated its
own new commercial arrangement.
The company as a whole continues
to grow as the brand seeps into new
markets, such as China and Brazil,
while the Formula One operation has
a roster of long-term partners that
remains the envy of much of the grid.
Ferrari had it all in 2012, apart from a
championship-winning car.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 19

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SANTANDER
US $40m
HUBLOT
US $1m
SHELL
US $36m
2013: Business
Although Ferrari’s sales in Italy fell
by 46 per cent in 2012, its overall
business appears in rude health.
Overall revenues rose by eight per
cent on 2011, to €2.433 billion, with
7,318 cars delivered. Net profits grew
17.8 per cent to €244 million. Sales
in China rose by four per cent, Japan
was up 14.4 per cent and the US,
Ferrari’s largest market, by 14.6 per
cent. Merchandising and licensing
continue to be big business around
the world, too, with Ferrari reporting
retail sales up five per cent and
licensing up 22 per cent: it has long
been a fact that Ferrari sells far more
caps than cars.
The Scuderia, meanwhile, has
further bolstered its much-envied
commercial portfolio between seasons,
drawing Swiss luxury watch brand
Hublot into racing activities – a
natural progression from the wider
deal the company signed with Ferrari
in 2011 – and signing extensions
to deals with anti-virus computer
software manufacturer Kaspersky Lab
and energy drinks brand TNT. There
is also a new name on the car, with
Weichai Power becoming Ferrari’s first
Chinese sponsor.
“I think we can legitimately claim
with satisfaction to have bucked the
current trend in sponsorship, not
only as regards Formula One, but also
when looking at sport in general,” said
team principal Stefano Domenicali in
comments published on the Ferrari
website in early February. “These
are significant achievements, which
alongside the vital support of our
long-time partners such as Philip
Morris and Shell and more recent
ones like Santander, strengthen our
position going into what will be a very
demanding season, from every point
of view.”
Every season Ferrari does not
win a world championship sees the
pressure on the team, from Italy,
ratchet up another couple of notches.
Domenicali, though, continues
to impress, even if championships
have eluded the red cars since 2008.
Luca di Montezemolo, meanwhile,
continues to flirt with a political
career in Italy but remains at the helm
as president. Speaking immediately
after the team’s 2013 car, the F138,
was launched at Maranello in early
February, his enthusiasm for the team
seemed undimmed. “Apart from my
family,” he said, “Ferrari is the most
important thing in my life and every
time I walk into the factory, even
after all these years, it puts me in a
good mood and I continue to get new
stimuli and ideas.”
Di Montezemolo, president of
Ferrari since 1991, is a veteran
of Formula One politics and also
understands the power that Ferrari
continues to wield. When the company
wants to make a point the sport still
finds itself stopping and listening.
Away from the track, Ferrari will
spend 2013 constructing a new
facility to house its race team, which
will be located alongside its existing
headquarters in Maranello in an area
currently used as a car park. Ground
was broken in January on a project
planned ‘in accordance with guidelines
inspired by the practicality, efficiency
and style that characterise the Formula
One programme’. The hope is it will
not prove a distraction in a year when
Ferrari has to deliver.
“The 2013 season will be a complex
one from many points of view,” is
Domenicali’s verdict. “We face a few
changes on the technical front which
will have a significant impact on all
areas of the company, not just in terms
of design, but also when it comes to
the investment and infrastructure
required to develop the new engine.
Within the limits imposed by the
regulations, we need to put every
effort into reaching our objectives,
while making the best use of the
timescale in preparing for 2014.
“Our aim is clear, to win, and the
priority is still that of giving our
drivers a car that will be competitive
right from the very start.”
22 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Luca di Montezemolo
(below, left centre)
has kept faith with
Felipe Massa (left) and
team principal Stefano
Domenicali (right) for
2013, but both will
know that to stay with
the team they need to
provide stellar support
to Alonso’s title push
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 23

Domenicali made
significant structural
changes to Ferrari’s design
team ahead of the launch of
the F138, which does away
with the ‘stepped’ nose that
was so prominent on the
2012 model
2013: Sporting
Ferrari cannot afford to race with a car
with as many fundamental deficiencies
as its 2012 machine this season, so it
was promising to hear Felipe Massa’s
positive initial verdict on the F138
after February’s first testing run.
Whether that will translate into a
genuine title challenge remains to be
seen, but nothing less than a sustained
run at the big prizes will do.
Before Christmas, Domenicali
announced structural changes
to Ferrari’s senior staff structure,
primarily to take into account the
increased workload of building a car
that will meet the new 2014 technical
regulations. Simone Resta and Fabio
Montecchi were both promoted to
deputy chief designer roles, working
under chief designer Nikolas Tombazis.
Resta is working on the 2013 car,
while Montecchi takes the lead on the
2014 project. “It became clear there
were too many demands on my time
overseeing both the mechanical and
aerodynamic aspects,” Tombazis said.
“My role has evolved to oversee these
activities, while freeing up time for
me to spend on specific aerodynamic
issues and on adopting a more creative
approach. Over the last few years,
Formula One has become ever more
sophisticated so one person can no
longer do every single thing.”
An unhelpful but unavoidable
problem in 2013 will be that the team
will have to conduct its aerodynamic
development work remotely, utilising
Toyota’s wind tunnel in Germany
while its own facility in Maranello
24 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Ferrari
* Cash component to deal - **UPS partnership with Ferrari is company-wide and not Formula One specific
Sponsor Total Value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Philip Morris Int. US$100m* January 1983 December 2015 Sponsor Tobacco
Fiat US$6m* January 1969 Ongoing Sponsor Automotive
Santander US$40m* January 2010 December 2017 Sponsor Financial
Shell US$36m* January 1996 December 2015 Sponsor Oil/Fuel
UPS US$24m** February 2013 Undisclosed Sponsor Other
Weichai Power US$2m* January 2013 Undisclosed Sponsor Technology
TNT US$2m* March 2012 December 2014 Sponsor Beverage
Kaspersky Lab US$2m* November 2010 December 2013 Sponsor Technology
Hublot US$1m* November 2011 Undisclosed Sponsor Watch
Puma US$16m* January 2004 Undisclosed Official Supplier Fashion
OMR US$0.5m* January 2010 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Infor US$0.1m* January 2012 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
SKF US$0.5m* April 2001 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Mahle US$0.2m* January 2012 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Magneti Marelli US$0.5m* January 2004 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
NGK US$0.3m* January 2001 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Iveco US$0.8m* January 2002 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Brembo US$0.3m* January 2004 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
OZ US$0.1m* January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Schuberth US$0.2m January 2009 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
TechnoGym US$0.2m January 2009 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Other Income
FOM TV US$104m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$336.7m
is upgraded after being taken out of
service last year. “The ideal solution
would be to have the wind tunnel right
here,” conceded Tombazis, speaking
from Maranello. “I cannot say that
having a wind tunnel in Cologne is the
perfect solution but weighing up the
medium and long-term advantages of
having an upgrade on our wind tunnel
or carrying on as it was, we concluded
that our current strategy was the
best. We have taken steps to ensure
communications and logistics are as
effective as possible in 2013. But still,
wherever the wind tunnel, the most
important thing is to have good ideas
and aerodynamic development and a
good facility.”
If Fernando Alonso is to win the
team the world championship it and
he both crave, only a good base car
and a programme of season-long
development will do. For Alonso
himself, it may be difficult to replicate
2012 given the consistency and
excellence he displayed throughout
last season. The Spaniard took the
intriguing decision to skip the first
test of the year at Jerez to give himself
more physical preparation time
for what will be another gruelling
season, with Massa and new Ferrari
reserve Pedro de la Rosa – hired
predominantly for his experience and
simulator abilities – handling the
initial driving duties. If Ferrari give
him the car, however, Alonso will
contend in 2013. The team has huge
confidence in him.
Massa, meanwhile, appears
rejuvenated by the faith show in him
in 2012. A good start to the year will
be vital, especially given he is only
contracted until the end of the season.
The Brazilian’s stay at the team beyond
that point depends entirely on his
performances in 2013. A return to the
top of the podium, for the first time
since 2008, would certainly help his
case. It would also be amongst the
most popular results of the year.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 25

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton’s
performances on
the track in 2012
were a considerable
improvement on the
previous year but he still
cut a frustrated figure at
McLaren and in October
confirmed his move
to Mercedes
2012 in review: the one that got away
McLaren will reflect on the 2012
season as the one that got away. The
team should have been competing
for both world championships right
to the end but instead failed to make
the most of what, at times, was the
fastest car on the grid. In the final
reckoning it was even pipped to the
post for second place in the world
championship by Ferrari – a source of
professional disappointment and real
financial pain given that the difference
between second and third might equate
to as much as US$10 million in prize
money and travel benefits.
McLaren needs no reminding that
it is now 14 years since it last won a
constructors’ crown. But for Lewis
Hamilton’s 2008 drivers’ title the team
would not have taken a championship
of any sort this century, a remarkable
state of affairs given its prestige,
professionalism and resources. It is not
that McLaren fails to build a winning
car – it has won at least one Grand Prix
every year since 1996 and scored seven
victories in 2012, the same number
as Red Bull – but there is clearly a
problem in closing out titles.
Through a combination of finger
and equipment trouble during pitstops
and puzzlingly poor reliability
during races, McLaren somehow
contrived to finish 82 points shy of
Red Bull over 20 races. And yet the
team won the opening race of the year
in Melbourne in some style and took
the last two victories of the season in
Austin and São Paulo.
“We’ve faltered a little bit this year,”
said team principal Martin Whitmarsh
after the penultimate race in Texas as
he reflected on 2012. “We’ve had a
quick car, we haven’t done as good a
job as we’d expect of ourselves.”
The initial speed of the car –
noticeably, it was one of the few new
2012 entries that lined up in Melbourne
without an ugly ‘stepped’ nose – saw
Jenson Button to victory in Australia,
but the team failed to capitalise on its
early advantage as it might have done.
Lewis Hamilton, in particular, was
delayed on several occasions in the
pits as the crew seemingly rushed its
attempts to deliver sub three-second
tyre changes; by the end of the year
it had cracked it and then some, but
process and equipment revisions
certainly cost McLaren points early in
the year. Hamilton was also denied a
possible victory in Barcelona when, after
he had qualified on pole, it emerged
the team had mistakenly not fuelled
his car sufficiently to deliver the sample
required by the FIA. The Englishman
was demoted to the back and although
he recovered to eighth by the chequered
flag it was more points lost.
Farewell, Lewis
If a series of erratic performances
from Hamilton let his team down in
2011, the reverse was true in 2012.
He drove quite superbly all year – only
a clash with Pastor Maldonado in
the closing laps at Valencia could be
considered a major driving miscue
and even that was debatable – and
deserved better than his eventual
fourth place in the championship,
26 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Jenson Button had
hoped to put together a
title challenge in 2012
but was let down by a
car with reliability issues
whose performance
faded as the year
wore on
some 91 points behind Vettel. His
sixth season in Formula One was,
however, his last with McLaren, the
team that funded his development
and fine-tuned his talent. Hamilton’s
dramatic decision to join Mercedes
in 2013 came early in October after
weeks of speculation and also when
his relationship with McLaren was, in
some respects at least, strained. At just
the time he was making his decision
over whether to re-sign or leave – with
former world champion Niki Lauda in
his ear strongly making the case for a
risky switch to Mercedes – there was
a sense that for all Hamilton’s talent
McLaren had grown a touch tired of
its former child prodigy. The tiredness
turned to thinly disguised frustration
when Hamilton misguidedly – and
frankly bizarrely – tweeted a picture
of a confidential telemetry trace
between his and Button’s qualifying
laps on race morning at Spa. It was
immature at best, but perhaps at the
critical moment of negotiation shortly
afterwards McLaren didn’t fight to
keep Hamilton quite as hard as it
might have done. Within weeks his
mind was made up and for the rest of
the season there seemed more than a
tinge of regret on both sides.
Fading away
As Hamilton mulled over his future,
Button’s championship challenge
faded away in much the same manner
as Mark Webber’s would a couple of
months later. Despite bookending
the season with victories and taking a
brilliant, dominant win in Belgium,
Button struggled many times to make
his Pirelli tyres work and also suffered
several reliability problems. A terrible
run of six races between Bahrain and
Britain yielded a best result of eighth
place and although there were six visits
to the podium and 14 points finishes
out of 20, it was nothing like enough
to sustain any form of serious bid for
the title. That said, on his day, Button
remains a world-beater. The 2009
world champion, a man very much
at home at McLaren, will be
the team leader in 2013 as young
Mexican Sergio Perez steps in to
replace Hamilton.
With McLaren’s long-time engine
provider Mercedes having extricated
itself, via its Daimler parent, from its
McLaren shareholding in a complicated
process which was finally resolved at
the start of 2012, the team faces the
prospect of paying for its supply from
2013 onwards. Although it remains
one of the best-funded in Formula One
– and the team with, by some distance,
the most state of the art base – its title
sponsorship agreement with Vodafone
will also expire at the end of 2013.
McLaren Group’s burgeoning road
car division – a project shaped by
chairman Ron Dennis – has been
formally separated from the racing
element of the team, whilst its
Applied Technologies division is
finding an increasingly diverse range
of clients in various industries from
other sports to healthcare. McLaren’s
pre-tax profit rose from UK£12
million to UK£19.7 million in 2011,
with turnover rising from UK£202
million to UK£239 million.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 27

The McLaren Group
celebrates its 50th
anniversary in 2013 and
the Formula One team
will want to prove that
proliferating off-track
distractions have not dulled
its competitive edge
2013: Business
2013 is a special year for McLaren
Group, which will celebrate its 50th
anniversary in September. Much has
changed but its desire to win remains
undimmed, even if there have been no
championships since 2008 when Lewis
Hamilton took the drivers’ title in the
most dramatic fashion possible.
The race team, McLaren Racing,
remains its core activity of course,
but there are several more branches
to the McLaren tree these days – not
least the production car division,
McLaren Automotive. There is also
McLaren Electronic Systems, which
supplies every Formula One team
plus Indycar and Nascar; McLaren
Marketing; the Absolute Taste
hospitality company; and McLaren
Applied Technologies, which applies
processes and technological solutions
developed within McLaren and utilises
them in a diverse range of arenas, from
professional cycling to healthcare.
The racing team is now part of a
much larger whole but as 2013 begins
McLaren is using its 50th anniversary
to reflect a little on its racing heritage
and achievements, notably its 182
victories and 155 pole positions.
Championships, in recent times, have
been more difficult to come by.
At the same time as team principal
Martin Whitmarsh and managing
director Jonathan Neale were plotting
a competitive start to the 2013 season,
they also had two other pressing
issues to contend with. One was the
departure of the team’s most senior
technical manager, the highly rated
Paddy Lowe. The Briton was courted
over the winter by Mercedes, leading
to widespread speculation that a move
was imminent and was absent from
McLaren’s 2013 launch so as not to
cause a “distraction”. He left the team
shortly afterwards, with Tim Goss
promoted internally to take his place.
The other key issue this year will
be finding a replacement for longtime
title sponsor Vodafone, which
confirmed in March it would not
be renewing its contract beyond the
end of the season. The mobile phone
giant’s deal with the team was first
signed in 2007 and then renewed for
a further three years in October 2010.
Inevitably, there has been speculation
28 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Team principal Martin
Whitmarsh (centre)
will lead a line-up with
a distinctly different
balance in 2013, with
Jenson Button (left) the
clear number one and
the gifted Sergio Perez
(right) in hot pursuit
that McLaren may go in search of
Mexican money following the signing
of Sergio Perez. Securing a new longterm
title sponsorship deal is all the
more pressing given McLaren finds
itself in the new situation of having to
pay for its engines from this season.
Although Mercedes-Benz has been
the team’s engine supplier since 1995,
the German manufacturer’s decision to
launch its own Formula One team in
2010 resulted in it selling back its 40
per cent stake in McLaren to long-time
shareholders Ron Dennis and Mansour
Ojjeh. The transaction having taken
place, McLaren has reverted from
effectively being Mercedes’ works team
to a mere customer. The level of engine
technology it will receive is unchanged
and on a par with Mercedes’ own team;
of more concern will the extent to
which McLaren will be involved in the
development of the all-new 2014 turbo
from Mercedes which it will be using
next year. Indeed, as the season neared
speculation grew that Honda, enthused
by the advent of a new turbo era, was
close to a deal with the team and a
return to the sport. In the meantime,
McLaren is believed to be paying in the
region of €15 million for its engine and
KERS system in 2013; it is a new cost,
although the team will likely be saving
a significant sum on its driver salary
bill following Lewis Hamilton’s switch
to Mercedes and the arrival of young
charger Sergio Perez in his place.
Mercedes and Vodafone aside,
McLaren retains a formidable cluster
of partners. Hilton signed a multiyear
renewal in May last year, while
McLaren Group’s September 2011’s tieup
with GlaxoSmithKline, which will
run until 2016, has gradually filtered
down to the Formula One team with
increased presence for GSK brands
such as Maximuscle and Lucozade on
the cars. The team’s deal with Mobil 1,
through parent company ExxonMobil,
also runs to the end of 2016.
2013: Sporting
For the first time since 2007 McLaren
is beginning a Formula One season
without Lewis Hamilton in one of its
cars. The emotional strain of the split
last year has quickly been replaced with
a mood of optimism, but it is hard to
argue that the new pairing of Jenson
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 29

McLaren.com
McLaren Celebrates
a remarkable 50 years
On 2nd September 2013 McLaren will celebrate a remarkable
legacy. For 50 years McLaren has delivered groundbreaking leaps
forward in racing technology, as well as breathtaking moments
on the race track and the road. It all started with one man.
He also created a company that would build on his passion,
blending matchless racing know-how with outstanding sports
car production. Producing road cars was core to Bruce’s dream.
into production. It would be more than 20 years before McLaren
would produce a road car, but the F1 would be worth the wait.
1980s – New Technology
McLaren, bringing with him cutting-edge composite
One Man’s Vision
As a teenager in New Zealand, Bruce McLaren dreamt of
fusing his passion for competitive driving with his passion for
engineering. He delivered on his dream in an extraordinary way,
the youngest ever GP winner at that time. Four years later he
set up Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, and by the mid-1960’s he
was dominating the CanAm Series with partner Denny Hulme.
groundbreaking and would go on to revolutionise the sport.
season John Watson claimed victory at Silverstone, the teams
followed McLaren’s visionary lead.
Further technical innovations led to a series of race successes.
16 races, a record that remains unbeaten.
McLaren 12C and McLaren 12C Spider

McLaren P1
1990s – Taking the Story to the Road
a superlative sports car that would also be practical on an
everyday basis. More revolutionary still, it would be a threeseater
and have the highest power to weight ratio of any
fastest naturally-aspirated production car in the world and the
and went on to make history. Winning its debut at Le Mans in 1995,
2003 – A Powerful Partnership
comfort and luxury expected of a limousine. McLaren provided
the engineering and production expertise, Mercedes the
design architecture and engine.
were derived from McLaren’s experience on the track and the
Airbrake was pioneered on the F1. A number of special editions
followed including the SLR Stirling Moss, but only 75 units were
made, and all were snapped up by existing SLR owners.
A New Chapter
McLaren is now looking to the future with a new generation of
revolutionary sports cars with the launch of McLaren Automotive.
groundbreaking road cars were designed around the driver,
during its competitive debut season.
be the most technologically advanced and most dynamically
accomplished supercar ever made. Judging by the response from
Geneva, McLaren continues to make good on Bruce’s dream.

McLaren
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Vodafone US$75m* January 2007 December 2013 Title Partner Telecoms
Mobil 1 US$35m* January 2005 December 2015 Technology Partner Oil/Fuel
SAP US$3m* May 2012 Undisclosed Technology Partner Technology
Hilton HHonors US$3m* June 2005 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Hotel
Johnnie Walker US$20m* July 2005 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Beverage
AkzoNobel US$0.25m January 2009 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Automotive
Aon US$1m* May 2010 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Financial
X-Trade Brokers US$1m* March 2010 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Financial
Tag Heuer US$2m* January 1985 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Watches
Santander US$2m* January 2007 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Financial
Hugo Boss US$3m* January 1982 Undisclosed Corporate Partner Fashion
Steinmetz US$0.3m May 2005 Undisclosed Associate Partner Luxury
Lucozade/Maximuscle US$15m* September 2011 December 2016 Official Supplier Beverage
Sparco US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Official Supplier Fashion
FanVision US$0.1m May 2007 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Mazak US$0.1m May 2007 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Dassault Systemes US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Faro US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
GS Yuasa US$0.25m January 2000 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Enkei US$0.5m January 2005 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Akebono US$0.25m September 2007 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Repucom US$0.1m January 2000 Undisclosed Official Supplier Other
Lenovo US$0.5m January 2009 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Processia Solutions US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
NGK US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
AkzoNobel-Sikkens US$0.25m January 2009 Undisclosed Official Supplier Automotive
Binz Intelligent Eyewear US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Kenwood US$0.4m January 1991 Undisclosed Official Supplier Technology
Other Income
FOM TV US$77.5m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$241.1m
Button and Sergio Perez is stronger
than the Button-Hamilton combo of
2010 to 2012.
Button is now the most experienced
Grand Prix driver in the field, having
competed in 228 races since his debut
for Williams in 2000. In his fourth
season with McLaren, he will assume
the role of de facto team leader as
Perez adjusts to life in a top-level team.
The 2009 world champion appears
ready for that challenge and nobody
is expecting anything other than the
Briton to be ahead when the points are
totted up at the end of the season. A
run at the championship should not be
ruled out either.
“I believe we’re extremely well
prepared for another competitive
season,” said team principal Martin
Whitmarsh before the start of testing.
“Jenson is driving better than ever –
he’s the most experienced driver in
Formula One, but he makes every
32 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
The arrival of Perez
(below) has yet to have
an impact on McLaren’s
commercial activities
but with Vodafone
electing not to renew
its title sponsorship the
Mexican’s backers may
yet come into play
TAG HEUER
US $2m
MOBIL 1
US $35m
VODAFONE
US $75m
HUGO BOSS
US $3m
ounce of that experience count; he’s
peerless in his ability to read a race and
one of the very fastest drivers out there.
He’s a consummate professional, too,
and will revel in working hard to drive
this team through the year.”
For Perez, who lacks nothing in
confidence, the first part of 2013 will
be a matter of ingratiating himself with
his new team and learning its ways.
The Mexican, undoubtedly quick but
certainly erratic in his first two seasons
of Formula One, has spent the winter
undergoing an intense programme of
physical training and simulator work
at the McLaren Technology Centre.
The team is leaving nothing to chance
and has compared Perez’s arrival to that
of Lewis Hamilton in 2007 in terms
of the preparatory work undertaken.
Perez, of course, has two years of solid
race experience already under his belt
with the Sauber team. McLaren should
ensure he slots in nicely. How he goes
will be one of the more fascinating
elements of the first part of the season
and while Button should have the
upper hand in all areas, it would be no
surprise at all, given McLaren’s record
and Perez’s promise, if at some point
this season he becomes his country’s
first Grand Prix winner since Pedro
Rodriguez in 1970.
The car that Button and Perez
will drive this year, the MP4-28, was
revealed to the world at a special
ceremony marking McLaren’s
golden anniversary year at the team’s
headquarters in late January. It is an
ambitious revision of the race-winning
car of 2012 which left Whitmarsh
exuding positivity. “This car is already
quicker than the car we finished last
year with,” he said at the launch,
before testing began in Spain in early
February. “At the moment we’re in a
very encouraging development stage. In
all that we are looking at – downforce
and other parameters that affect
performance – this car is responding
very well.” The car was quickest on its
first day of testing; a promising start
to a year in which McLaren needs to
deliver a championship.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 33

Lotus
Lotus established itself as
the best of the midfield
pack in 2012 and will have
its sights set on challenging
Red Bull, Ferrari and
McLaren for more wins
in 2013
2012 in review: a competitive fourth
Lotus, once Benetton and most
recently Renault, returned to winning
ways in 2012. As Kimi Raikkonen,
whose return to the sport was one of
the season’s highlights, crossed the
line under the lights to win the Abu
Dhabi Grand Prix some turned to
the history books to see when the last
time a car called a Lotus had won a
race, but a more accurate historical
note was that it was the first victory
for the Enstone-headquartered outfit
since Fernando Alonso won the 2008
Japanese Grand Prix.
The Lotus name is just that and
no more, having been revived and
then battled over in tiresome fashion
throughout 2011 – Malaysian-owned
Group Lotus eventually prevailing
in the British courts over Malaysian
entrepreneur Tony Fernandes’ Team
Lotus. Group Lotus, which had
aggressively announced its intentions
by signing a title sponsorship deal
believed to be worth as much as
US$20 million annually until 2017
with an option to buy a majority
stake of the team at the end of 2010,
terminated its deal early in 2012.
That led to the unusual situation of
the team – renamed Lotus for 2012
following the conclusion of the court
battle and Renault relinquishing the
last of its share in the team – retaining
the Lotus name, around which they
are building a new image despite not
receiving any income. It is an unusual
scenario, certainly. Suggestions that
Genii Capital, the team’s owner, was
looking to acquire Group Lotus had
come to nought as the year ended.
Commercial savvy
Back in Enstone, deep in the heart of
Oxfordshire, the team made the most
of what might be described as a slight
identity crisis. In terms of marketing
and commercial activities, few teams
performed more adeptly in 2012.
Lotus has built a significant voice for
itself on Twitter, while in sponsorship
34 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
terms there were new partnerships
with consumer brands at either end of
the year. Unilever arrived in a US$15
million deal before the start of the
season, through which it promoted its
Rexona deodorant brand and antidandruff
shampoo Clear. In November
the team announced that Coca-Cola’s
energy drinks brand Burn would be a
sponsor from 2013.
The deals were a testament to a
savvy commercial team, led by chief
commercial officer Steve Curnow and
commercial manager Phil Kennard,
as were a couple of novel single-race
agreements. Lotus signed a deal with
the makers of the Angry Birds game
in Monaco and secured a promotional
tie-up with the Warner Bros studio
at Silverstone ahead of the release of
Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.
There was also a three-year
agreement, signed in May, with
business technology solutions provider
Avanade and, in March, a multi-year
agreement with Microsoft Dynamics –
the first time any Microsoft brand has
been active in the sport.
Genii, led by technology
entrepreneur Gerard Lopez, has
insisted it will supply funding in the
event of any sponsorship shortfall, but
the big prize remains a replacement
title sponsor for Lotus. Wild
speculation that the team was up for
sale in October was quickly snuffed
out, although Lopez appears prepared
to sell a minority stake or two should
the right investor emerge.
Raikkonen’s winning return
On the track, a single victory and ten
podiums made it a successful season
for the team and was more than good
enough for fourth place in the world
championship. Perhaps it should have
done better, given the considerable
attributes of the R20 chassis. Time
after time, however, particularly early
in the season, Lotus would appear
to be the pacesetters throughout
practice, only to fall away as the race
weekend progressed. Despite a very
accomplished return to the sport,
Raikkonen, too, was perhaps guilty
of a touch of conservatism when he
elected not to try a move on Sebastian
Vettel when in prime position to take
the lead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in
April. Later in the season, once the
ring-rustiness had passed, he had no
such qualms. His drive to victory in
Abu Dhabi, although abetted by Lewis
Hamilton’s retirement, was superb; his
overtaking move on Nico Hulkenberg
in Austin, a sweeping pass around the
outside, was even better and probably
the best of the year.
After two unsuccessful years in
the World Rally Championship
Raikkonen’s return to Formula One
was widely welcomed. Not one for a
sentence when a single word will do,
at least in front of the cameras, and
something of a throwback to another
age, he was expertly handled by Lotus
who created an atmosphere that
allowed him to thrive. The fabulously
gifted Finn was one of the stars of
2012, eventually finishing third in the
world championship.
For Romain Grosjean, however, 2012
was a testing first full year in Formula
One – although, in fact, it wasn’t quite
the full season for the Frenchman as he
was banned from the Italian Grand Prix
for causing a huge accident at the start
in Belgium, which skittled out several
cars and nearly took Fernando Alonso’s
head off. It was a just punishment and
one of a sizeable handful of incidents
during races which marred his year
and took the sheen off some genuinely
impressive performances early on. He
took three podiums, notably second
place in Canada, and ten points finishes
from his 19 races. He also virtually
matched Raikkonen over the season
in the qualifying head-to-head charts,
finishing 9-10. Grosjean, the 2011 GP2
champion, is undoubtedly quick but his
propensity for becoming embroiled in
incidents lost the team a huge chunk of
points over the season and the resulting
wave of criticism certainly dented his
confidence. He will return, however,
with Lotus confirming in December
that the Frenchman – backed by French
oil company Total, who have a multimillion
dollar agreement with the team
– was to stay on for 2013. On balance
that was the right decision, although a
significant improvement is required.
Belgian Jerome D’Ambrosio, who
raced for Virgin Racing in 2011,
was promoted from reserve driver to
replace Grosjean at the Italian Grand
Prix. He qualified 16th and raced,
without drama, to 13th.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 35

Romain Grosjean brings
significant financial backing
to Lotus through French oil
company Total but after an
erratic season the team will
hope he can provide more
mature support to star
driver Kimi Raikkonen this
time around
2013: Business
After the positivity of 2013, Lotus
is eyeing another step forward
in competitiveness this year and
a top-three finish in the world
championship. That will require them
to break the Red Bull-McLaren-Ferrari
stronghold, but it is an admirable,
if ambitious, pre-season target. The
team’s progression in all areas over the
past 18 months or so has certainly
been impressive. “Obviously the
results are very important and they
are a key part because the target of
a Formula One team is to be a top
team,” team principal Eric Boullier
told SportsPro in February.
“On top of that, we work a lot on
making this positive image around
the team – being a little bit different
than the other teams, building a lot
with social media to clearly have
an interaction with the fans. That’s
something, obviously, which
definitely helps us today. We know
that with any commercial leads or
discussions that are opened we are
seriously considered and one of the
serious contenders if there is any
positive outcome.”
Key partnerships have been secured
over the past year with Microsoft
Dynamics, Unilever and Burn,
Coca-Cola’s energy drink, while the
team has also struck smaller supply
deals over the winter with Henri
Lloyd and Alpinestars. For Boullier,
it is the result of a new companywide
commercial focus, which
reflects Lotus’ change of status from
a manufacturer-owned team to a
privately owned outfit. “We had to
tune the culture a little bit,” he said.
“We had to say, ‘Everybody in every
department, you have contact with
suppliers, you have contact with
different companies working for the
team.’ Even if it’s a niche you can
always find a contact where you can
develop commercial relationships
whereas before, when the team was a
car manufacturer, you have to work on
doing your job – you don’t really care
about the commercial side.”
The team is still actively pursuing
a title sponsor to replace Lotus. The
Lotus name is used under licence from
the car manufacturer, which up until
last year was also the title sponsor.
“We found that it’s a great brand,” said
36 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Technical director
James Allison wants
2013’s E21 to be an
improvement “in all
areas” , and wants the
advances the team
makes “to be greater
than those made by
the opposition”
Boullier. “It’s a very serious brand and
it’s very well associated with Formula
One, so that’s why we are all happy
with the situation now.
He added: “To build a title sponsor
deal is very complex and takes a long
time. We are pursuing sponsors and
a title [sponsor] is one of them.
We have also different levels of
endorsement and any of them are
important these days.”
Lotus has positioned itself as a
Formula One challenger brand in some
style and even if it has aspirations to
break into the top three as early as
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 37

Lotus
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Genii Capital US$40m January 2010 Ongoing Official Partner Other
Renault US$6m* January 2001 Ongoing Official Partner Car manufacturer
Total US$28m* January 2011 Ongoing Official Partner Oil/Fuel
Rexona US$7.5m* February 2012 December 2012 Official Partner Consumer
Clear US$7.5m* February 2012 December 2012 Official Partner Consumer
Burn US$3m* January 2013 Undisclosed Official Partner Beverages
Microsoft Dynamics US$2m* March 2012 December 2014 Official Partner Technology
Japan Rags US$1.5m November 2010 Undisclosed Official Partner Fashion
Avanade US$1.5m May 2012 December 2014 Official Partner Technology
Agt US$0.2m April 2012 Undisclosed Official Partner Other
Auden McKenzie US$0.2m January 2013 Undisclosed Official Business Partner Technology
Optimal Payments US$0.2m May 2012 Undisclosed Official Business Partner Technology
CNBC US$0.2m January 2013 Undisclosed Official Business Partner Media
Alpinestars US$0.2m January 2013 Undisclosed Technical Partner Fashion
CD-Adapco US$0.25m January 2001 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
Digipen US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
GF AgieCharmilles US$0.7m January 2000 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
iRise US$0.1m March 2012 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
Magneti Marelli US$0.2m January 2012 Undisclosed Technical Partner Automotive
NetApp US$0.4m January 2003 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
Oz Racing US$0.2m January 2009 Undisclosed Technical Partner Automotive
Processia Solutions US$0.5m September 2004 December 2015 Technical Partner Technology
Symantec US$0.3m January 2003 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
Siemens US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
3D Solutions US$0.2m January 2003 Undisclosed Technical Partner Technology
Other Income
FOM TV US$67m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$168.05m
this year, Boullier hopes the team’s
atmosphere will not change. “Definitely
the target is to get more resources, more
money, more budget,” he said, “but
my target is to keep the spirit and the
culture we have here.”
Not for the first time, a very
positive story is emerging at Enstone,
from where championship-winning
Benetton and Renault cars were
created. Lotus could well be the
breakthrough team of 2013.
2013: Sporting
There are high hopes for the Lotus E21,
which is an evolved version of last year’s
race-winning E20. In part, that is a
result of stability of regulations but it is
also due to the inherent strengths of the
2012 car. The E21 had a positive debut
in testing early in February, raising
hopes that it may be a car capable of
helping the team move into Formula
One’s top three.
“Some parts of the new car are a
ground-up redesign and in other areas
we have further optimised the best bits
of the design philosophy we’ve adopted
for several seasons,” said technical
director James Allison, a veteran of the
team, of a car which was the first 2013
machine revealed to the world in late
January. “The front and rear suspension
layouts are substantially revised to
try and give us better aerodynamic
opportunities. The front wing is a
38 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Though it will start
the season without a
title sponsor the Lotus
commercial team has
proved effective in its
ability to attract partners,
particularly consumer
brands, something team
principal Eric Boullier
(below) attributes to the
“positive image around
the team”
TOTAL
US $28m
GENII
US $40m
REXONA
US $7.5m
BURN
US $3m
continuation of the concepts we have
worked on since the 2009 rules were
published.” The team has also worked
hard to maximise the benefits of the
Drag Reduction System (DRS), a key
asset during races.
“We never set out to build the
second-fastest or third-fastest car,”
Allison continued. “We set out to
build the fastest and most effective
car that we possibly can. We want to
improve our car in all areas from last
year’s and we want the improvements
we make to be greater than those made
by the opposition.”
Lotus has retained both its 2012
drivers. Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007
world champion, returns for a second
season after a terrific comeback year
in which he underlined his status as
one of the best – and most popular –
drivers on the grid. Boullier, speaking
to SportsPro in February, believes that
Lotus’ status as a privately run team
has allowed Raikkonen to be himself
in a way that he wasn’t when he was
contracted to McLaren and Ferrari,
teams with a heavy manufacturer
presence and, perhaps, a more
corporate attitude. In a marketing
sense, the team has used him brilliantly.
The Finn, now 33, still has the
consistency, speed and mentality to
mount a world championship challenge
if the car is up to it; nobody would be
surprised if he won races in 2013.
For Romain Grosjean, 2013 is a
critical season. Undoubtedly quick,
as his performances in the first part
of last year showed, his campaign was
blighted by incident and widespread
criticism. He ended the year looking
like a man with the world on his
shoulders, a total contrast from the
smiling figure who had stood on
podiums months earlier. Lotus, helped
along by oil supplier Total, has given
him another shot but the early part of
the season is vitally important. A good
start should see the memories of 2012
and the perception of him as a crashprone
driver evaporate; a bad start,
however, might be another damaging
dent to his confidence. Grosjean is
talented but in 2013 he has to prove
he has the mental toughness to be a
top-line Grand Prix driver. He could
learn a trick or two from the way
Raikkonen shrugs off criticism and
praise in almost equal measure.
40 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Mercedes
It was the end of a slightly
disappointing era in 2012
as Michael Schumacher’s
(left) three-year Formula
One return with Mercedes
came to a close without a
single Grand Prix win
2012 in review:
the disappointing breakthrough year
2012 was both a breakthrough year
and a hugely disappointing one for
Mercedes. At April’s Chinese Grand
Prix, Nico Rosberg took the team’s first
victory since the German manufacturer
bought and rebranded it before the
start of 2010. It was a dominant drive
and followed a front-row lockout by
Rosberg and Michael Schumacher
the previous day, underlining that at
the start of the season, at least, the
Mercedes were amongst the fastest cars
on the grid. It was, however, to prove
the high point.
In the second half of the year,
Mercedes’ form trailed off badly. It was
an abject finish to the campaign for a
manufacturer-backed team boasting
all kinds of technical expertise and
experience. In the six races between
Singapore and the end of the season,
Mercedes took just one seventh place.
The podium finishes achieved by
Rosberg in Monaco and Schumacher
in Valencia seemed a world away. The
team ultimately slipped to fifth in the
constructors’ world championship
and had Sauber closing in fast as the
season ended.
“We had a competitive car in the
first third of the season, as Nico and
Michael demonstrated on several
occasions,” said Norbert Haug who,
until December at least, was Mercedes’
head of motorsport. “However, we
especially needed to catch up in
terms of aerodynamics and to achieve
our targets, we made changes in
technology and personnel in order to
be competitive from the start to the
finish of next season.”
Haug’s departure from a role he
had made his own over 22 years was
something of a surprise, although
the appointment of three-time world
champion Niki Lauda as chairman of
the team a few weeks earlier may have
offered a clue that it was poised for
management changes. It seems Haug
has carried the can for three years of
underperformance; at board level,
Mercedes evidently expected to be
more successful rather sooner than it
has turned out.
Quite how Lauda, a man not
known for keeping his opinions
to himself, gels with Brawn, with
whom Mercedes has entrusted the
day-to-day running of the team at
its base in the Northamptonshire
town of Brackley, remains to be seen.
Speaking in November, however,
Brawn played down the changes. “Niki
is non-executive chairman,” he said,
“chairman of our board. We meet our
board several times a year, to discuss
the major issues. I think Niki is also
going to add a lot of racing experience
to the board. The board meetings will
have a slightly different complexion
in the future. And Niki’s helping with
some of the bigger strategic issues,
such as the new commercial agreement
with Bernie [Ecclestone]; obviously
Niki had some involvement with
persuading Lewis [Hamilton] to join
us – so those sorts of issues, but not
involved with the day-to-day running
of the team.”
Statement of intent
Signing Lewis Hamilton, who joins in
2013 for the first year of a three-season
agreement, was a major statement of
intent from Mercedes. The team is also
looking ahead to the major package
42 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Nico Rosberg confirmed
his arrival as a serious
player in the sport with
a first win for Mercedes
at the Chinese Grand
Prix in April but the
team failed to kick on
from there
of engine regulation changes in 2014
with some relish; as a manufacturer
which builds its own chassis and
engine, that rare thing in modern
Formula One, there is a belief that it
may be very well placed to capitalise
and steal a march on the opposition.
It is said to be one of the reasons
Hamilton has gambled on his highprofile
move.
Hamilton, however, will be nervous
about the way Mercedes failed to
develop its package after a promising
start in 2012. Its early pace was in no
small part due to its innovative double
DRS system, which made the car a
relative rocket-ship down the straights.
In Monaco, too, it was perhaps the
package to beat, although Rosberg
could only finish second behind Mark
Webber. From then on, however, it
was more of a struggle. The car seemed
unduly hard on its tyres and in a
season where tyre management was
very nearly the be-all and end-all, that
proved a major hindrance.
Commercially, the team is well
placed despite initially hesitating
over its future in the sport when it
emerged it would not be receiving
the same financial deal offered by
Bernie Ecclestone to the likes of
Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing.
Ultimately, terms were agreed and
the team is contractually bound to
Formula One until 2020.
Commercial gains
There was a subtle change to the team’s
name in 2012, with AMG, Mercedes’
high-performance brand, added to
make the official title ‘Mercedes AMG
Petronas Formula 1 Team’. Malaysian
oil giant Petronas is a long-term and
committed title sponsor, as part of a
wider tie-up with Mercedes, while the
team snared several new deals during
the course of the year. Starwood Hotels
came aboard in May and watchmaker
IWC Shaffhausen signed an agreement
which comes into effect in 2013.
Before the 2012 championship began,
Mercedes renewed its agreement
with MIG Bank and signed jeweller
Thomas Sabo and Spanish solar energy
company Isofoton.
There was also a change in the
ownership balance in November, with
Mercedes parent Daimler taking 100
per cent control in the team, which
operates as Mercedes Grand Prix Ltd,
after acquiring the 40 per cent stake
held by Abu Dhabi investment firm
Aabar. The 40 per cent stake had been
wrapped up in a wider agreement
which saw Aabar also acquire nine
per cent of Daimler outright in 2011.
Aabar’s disinvestment should have no
day-to-day repercussions for the team.
Hamilton’s signing for 2013 meant
the end of the road – and this time
for good – for Michael Schumacher,
the man whose return with Mercedes
in 2010 came with such high hopes
but ultimately never quite delivered.
Schumacher finally got back on the
podium in 2012 and still showed
touches of class here and there but, as
in 2010 and 2011, there were incidents
aplenty. His comeback in microcosm
was taking pole position with a
brilliant lap in Monte Carlo, only to
be demoted five places on the grid for
having driven into the back of Bruno
Senna’s Williams at the previous race
in Spain. At 43, Schumacher retires a
more popular man than he was first
time round in 2006. Success, though,
eluded both him and the team.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 43

Lewis Hamilton (centre)
will be expected to
add stardust and world
championship quality to
Mercedes after taking the
difficult decision to leave
McLaren, the only team he
has ever known in the sport
2013: Business
It has been quite a winter for
Mercedes with even the arrival of
Lewis Hamilton overshadowed
somewhat by dramatic management
changes to the team, driven by its
disappointing performance in 2012.
The departure of Norbert Haug and
arrival, in a non-executive chairman
capacity, of Niki Lauda had seemed
change enough, but in mid-January
Mercedes announced that it had
appointed Toto Wolff as its new
executive director of motorsport,
a wide-ranging role covering the
Formula One team and the rest of
the German manufacturer’s racing
activities around the world.
Wolff, who had been an executive
director at Williams, now finds
himself in the highly unusual position
of holding a significant portion of
shares in two Formula One teams,
having been handed a 30 per cent
stake in Mercedes Benz Grand Prix
Ltd, the UK company through which
the Mercedes team trades, to go with
his existing shareholding of around 15
per cent in Williams. Having started
the winter as the man most likely to
replace Sir Frank Williams at the head
of one team, the Austrian ended it in
charge of one of the entire motorsport
programme of one of the world’s
leading car manufacturers.
At the same time, Mercedes
announced Lauda had acquired a 10
per cent stake, at a stroke creating
an Austrian powerbase in the team’s
management. It left Ross Brawn, as
team principal, a touch isolated as
the third member of the management
set-up and speculation about the
Briton’s future was hardly dampened
when reports in January emerged
that Mercedes had made a move to
hire McLaren’s technical director
Paddy Lowe in a senior role. Lowe
has since left the British team and
Brawn’s current unwillingness to
commit long-term to Mercedes –
intriguing in itself – has prompted
speculation that it is only a matter
44 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Seemingly poised
to take the reins
at Williams, Toto
Wolff was a surprise
appointment as
executive director of
motorsport at Mercedes
in January
of time before Lowe joins the host of
technical managers already ensconced
at Mercedes.
Brawn, for now at least, retains
day-to-day control at the team’s UK
headquarters in Brackley but his
relationship with Wolff and the usually
outspoken Lauda will be analysed
closely throughout the year. The
changes instigated by the Mercedes
board, led by Daimler chairman
Dr Dieter Zetsche, are nothing if
not bold. Much now rests on the
performance of the team’s new W04
chassis. If it is not up to scratch, there
could be further executive fireworks.
Some of the senior personnel may
have changed but commercially
Mercedes has been very successful
since its return to the grid with its
own team in 2010. The long-term title
sponsorship deal with Petronas is now
into its fourth season – the Malaysian
brand has chosen to highlight its
‘reimagining energy’ corporate
message on the cars this season – while
a new US$36 million, three-year deal
with BlackBerry, a new sponsor for
Formula One, was confirmed with the
launch of the 2013 car.
The team has worked hard to use its
heritage and Mercedes’ global brand
values to maximise its returns through
sponsorship, even during a fallow
period in terms of results. Hamilton’s
global appeal as one of Formula One’s
most famous faces will surely help its
cause this year, too.
2013: Sporting
Beginning what has been called the
start of a “second era” for the team,
Mercedes is under no illusions about
the improvement required with its
W04 car, which was revealed to the
world at the start of February, if
they want to challenge for regular
race wins and become a genuine
contender in 2013. “The restructuring
we undertook at the team over the
past 18 months is now growing
in maturity and this is reflected in
the F1 W04, which is a clear
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 45

Mercedes
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Mercedes-Benz US$70m November 2009 Ongoing Owner Car manufacturer
Petronas US$42m* January 2010 December 2012 Title Partner Oil/Fuel
MIG Bank US$4m* April 2009 December 2012 Team Partner Financial
BlackBerry US$12m* February 2013 December 2015 Team Partner Technology
Allianz US$1m* February 2010 Undisclosed Team Partner Technology
IWC Shaffhausen US$1m* May 2012 December 2014 Team Partner Watch
Monster Energy US$1.6m* March 2010 Undisclosed Team Partner Beverages
Puma US$1m* January 2012 Undisclosed Team Partner Fashion
Starwood Hotels US$1.5m* May 2012 Undisclosed Team Partner Hotel
Isofoton US$0.3m* February 2012 December 2012 Team Partner Technology
Endless Advance US$0.1m January 2010 Undisclosed Team Supplier Automotive
Lincoln Electric US$0.2m January 2010 Undisclosed Team Supplier Technology
Sandvik Coromant US$0.2m January 2012 Undisclosed Team Supplier Technology
STL Communications US$0.15m May 2010 Undisclosed Team Supplier Technology
Solace Systems
US$0.1m
Other Income
FOM TV US$64m March 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$199.15m
MIG BANK
US $4m
MERCEDES-BENZ
US $70m
PETRONAS
US $42m
BLACKBERRY
US $12m
step forward in design and detail
sophistication over its predecessor,”
was Brawn’s assessment on launch
day. He has targeted a “step change”
in performance over 2012, although
the early teething troubles that limited
running severely on the first two days
of pre-season testing hardly bode well.
The team did, however, recover well
and the car ran faultlessly on the final
two days in Jerez.
The arrival of Hamilton has
added new impetus already and in
the Briton the team has its most
reliable benchmark yet. Hamilton
is a proven Grand Prix winner and
world champion so there will be no
doubt where the blame lies should the
car not perform – there will be none
of the doubts which have lingered
for the past three years about Nico
Rosberg’s ultimate pace or that of a
fortysomething Michael Schumacher.
How Hamilton integrates himself
into the team – and how the team
reacts to Hamilton – will be one of
the most fascinating narratives of the
48 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Mercedes will be hoping
that its W04 can deliver
on a more consistent
basis than its 2012 car,
whose straight-line
speed was undermined
by a tendency to chew
through Pirelli tyres
season. The early signs appear positive:
Hamilton has already declared himself
“happier” with Mercedes than at
McLaren, while the team has laid out
the welcome mat in some style for
its new charge, despite the upheaval
in senior personnel. The 28-year-old
has also installed Tom Shine as his
new day-to-day manager ahead of
the new season. Shine, a veteran of
Simon Fuller’s XIX agency which
manages Hamilton’s affairs, replaced
Didier Coton in what will be, as ever,
an important role marshalling one of
Formula One’s superstars.
Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, enters
his first Formula One season as a
Grand Prix winner almost completely
overshadowed by his teammate. It
is a role the 27-year-old has become
accustomed to, having shared the
Mercedes garage with Schumacher
since 2010. Few expect Rosberg to
match Hamilton over the course of the
season, but he will be heartened by the
knowledge that many said the same
about Jenson Button when he joined
Hamilton at McLaren and about
Rosberg himself when Schumacher
arrived at Mercedes. Expect the
German, approaching his ninth
season of Formula One and a veteran
of 128 races, to do his usual, good,
professional job. The higher highs,
however, are likely to be provided by
the new man alongside him.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 49

Sauber
The high performance of
the C31 meant 2012 was
an excellent season for
Sauber’s outgoing driving
team of Sergio Perez and
Kamui Kobayashi, with
the former on the podium
three times and the latter
managing third in his home
Grand Prix at Suzuka
2012 in review: the surprise package
By its usual standards Sauber enjoyed
a tremendous season, but by the
standards of its 2012 car the suspicion
by the end of the year was that the
team might have even done a touch
better than its eventual sixth place
and four podiums. The C31, crafted
by James Key, was an excellent effort;
kind on its tyres and a good base from
which to work.
Indeed, the team should have won at
least one Grand Prix: in Malaysia Sergio
Perez, the talented Mexican hotshot,
was chasing down Fernando Alonso’s
Ferrari before sliding off the road and
being forced to settle for second place,
while in Belgium Kamui Kobayashi and
Perez qualified 2nd and 4th and were
tipped to be right in contention until
they were blamelessly involved in the
multi-car first-corner accident triggered
by Romain Grosjean.
It would be churlish in the extreme
to criticise Sauber, a well-run team
which always operates within its means,
after such a competitive season – after
all, it finished sixth in the constructors’
championship, almost within spitting
distance of Mercedes, and scored 82
more points than in 2011. Yet were it
not for the team’s innate conservatism,
the win in Malaysia was certainly on
the cards: it said everything that just as
Perez was closing in on Alonso in the
dying laps he was given a radio message
reminding him of the importance to
the collective of the 18 points he would
get for second place.
Perez followed up second place in
Malaysia with a third place in Canada
and second place, behind Lewis
Hamilton, in Italy. There was also an
emotional home podium for Kamui
Kobayashi in Japan.
Kaltenborn promoted
In the midst of such an impressive
season, Peter Sauber – a man who
was always reluctant to return to the
front line but felt obliged to save the
team he created when BMW withdrew
from the sport at the end of 2009 –
relinquished the team principal’s role
to Monisha Kaltenborn in October.
Kaltenborn, who has been deeply
involved in Sauber’s legal affairs for
many years and was most recently
its chief executive, is the sport’s first
female team principal. “We decided a
long time ago that Monisha would take
over from me, but we left the timing
open,” Sauber said. “Now is a good
time for both of us, so this is the right
moment to pass on the baton.
“I’m in no doubt that Monisha
has all the necessary skills to be an
outstanding team principal, and I’m
equally certain she will ensure that the
values underpinning the company live
on. That is very important to me.”
Kaltenborn has been widely praised
for her deft touch in negotiations
about the commercial future of the
sport during recent months and is
now very much the public face of
the team as Sauber takes up a more
strategic, honorary role. In May, Sauber
transferred one third of the equity
of the Formula One team to her, an
indication of the level of trust he has in
the Indian-Austrian.
Privately owned, Sauber has a
longstanding engine agreement with
Ferrari and, since the arrival of Perez
50 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
A new alliance:
Sauber announced
an unprecedented
partnership with
2012 Uefa Champions
League-winning soccer
club Chelsea last season
at the start of the 2011 season, what
might be described as a reliance on
Mexican sponsorship. At its core is
healthy financial support from Carlos
Slim, the chairman and chief executive
of the giant Telmex corporation who is
ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest
man. Perez has long been backed by
Escuderia Telmex, the company’s
motorsport programme, while the
team has attracted other sponsorship
pesos on the back of its Perez/Telmex
relationship, notably a new deal with
Mexico’s tourist board in March 2012
for 12 Grands Prix.
Money matters
In October the team signed a new
three-year deal with Swiss technology
firm Oerlikon until 2015, extending a
long-term relationship, and there was
also a novel tie-up with Premier League
football team Chelsea FC. “We’re still
developing it,” said Alex Sauber, the
team’s marketing director and also
the son of Peter, of the arrangement
in October. “We launched a joint
merchandising range and we’ll see how
the market will respond to it. Some
areas are obviously very new to both of
us, but it’s a fact that everyone in Asia,
where the growth potential is huge,
loves football or Formula One. With
the combination you reach a wider
audience. But we really have to figure
how this pays off.”
Sauber’s pair of young drivers
both had their moments, although
it was the talented if erratic Perez
who took most of the eye-catching
results. Frustratingly for Sauber and
worryingly for McLaren, the Mexican’s
form deserted him in the final six races
after it was confirmed he would be
replacing Lewis Hamilton in 2013.
Across the season, in fact, Kobayashi
scored points in nine races compared
to Perez’s seven, even if Perez did
accrue six more points.
Kobayashi’s popularity amongst fans
ultimately took second place to Sauber’s
need to keep its Mexican income
stream. Although reserve driver Esteban
Gutierrez is not part of the Telmex
racing squad, his nationality does make
it more likely that the Mexican money
will continue to flow into the team.
With Gutierrez promoted for 2013
and Nico Hülkenberg switching from
Force India, Kobayashi found himself
without a drive and out of Formula
One. There was little or no support for
him from Japanese companies; even
Japanese firm NEC sponsored Sauber
through its Mexican branch.
Sauber’s C20 chassis will be
remembered fondly, however, by the
Hinwil-based team. Designed by
Briton James Key before his departure
on the eve of the car’s launch, it was
successfully developed throughout
the season by a combination of
chief designer Matt Morris, head of
aerodynamics Willem Toet and head of
track engineering Giampaolo Dall’Ara.
“We don’t have a technical director,”
confirmed Monisha Kaltenborn,
speaking at Monza in September.
“That was my choice. They sit together
and decide on a technical direction. It
seems to be working and it’s a bit of a
history at Sauber that we’ve always had
very strong heads of department and
then people under them. It’s always
been the backbone of the team and it
works well.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 51

Nico Hülkenberg (right) has
been recruited from
Force India to lead a
new-look line-up featuring
Mexico’s Esteban Gutiérrez
(below) and the promising
young Dutch test driver
Robin Frijns
2013: Business
Sauber will have to go some to match
its 2012 exploits in 2013, but if the
evidence of the team’s launch at the
end of January was any guide the Swiss
team is very much up for the challenge.
Finishing higher than last year’s sixth
place in the championship will mean
beating one of the sport’s marquee
names but team principal Monisha
Kaltenborn, whose calm attitude
washes over the team, is too astute to
make public her specific targets for the
season ahead. “We’re not saying we
want to finish in this or that position
in the standings,” she said at the end of
January, “as ultimately other factors will
also come into play that are outside our
control. What we can be clear about,
however, is that we want to continue
on our upward curve.
“We’re well prepared, we’ve got the
new car finished in good time and
we’ve met the performance targets we
52 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Like many teams,
Sauber has elected
for conservative
development of its
2012 car in creating the
C32 and held resources
back for 2014’s major
regulation changes
set ourselves internally. That puts us in
a confident frame of mind.”
Sauber has bounced back from
BMW’s withdrawal at the end of
the 2009 season quicker and more
effectively than many predicted. A
solidly run business, with founder
Peter Sauber initially returned to the
helm before he handed the keys to
Kaltenborn last year, combined with
a much-needed financial boost from
a crop of Mexican sponsors and a
good technical structure, has made
the potentially troublesome switch
from fully backed manufacturer team
to independent challenger a relatively
smooth one.
“What we’ve achieved in those three
years is remarkable, taking into account
the economic situation,” said marketing
director Alex Sauber in an interview
with SportsPro late last year, although
he added that the rehabilitation process
has not been completed just yet. “What
we’ve achieved is really great but we’re
still suffering a bit. We went down to
zero and now we’re still building back
up. The podiums for us certainly helped
to achieve more awareness, particularly
as we are one of those middle-ranged
teams; as soon as you get to a podium
the awareness you generate in media
is just a lot bigger and you can do a
lot more out of it. I would say it’s a
door-opener to approach brands, but
it’s not a guaranteed thing that a deal
happens. It starts conversations rather
than finishes them.”
Despite the departure of Sergio
Perez, the team has retained its
Mexican support for 2013, with
Carlos Slim’s Telmex continuing
to provide the bulk of sponsorship
income. The promotion of Gutiérrez
to a race seat cannot fail to have
helped in that regard but there is
also a sense that Sauber has become
something of a challenger brand in
Formula One – still an almost familyrun
operation, it also evokes memories
of what the sport once was. Mexican
money aside, the team has a small crop
of long-term partners: watchmaker
Certina renewed for a ninth season in
January. Smaller deals have also been
put in place with racing equipment
manufacturer OMP and automotive
inspection company Dekra, the latter
an extension of the firm’s personal deal
with Nico Hülkenberg.
2013: Sporting
In line with the trend across Formula
One, the Sauber C32 is an evolution
of the C31 chassis that proved so
effective last year. No team is keen to
make wholesale changes for 2013 given
that major technical reforms are on the
horizon for 2014. Sauber’s cloth must
be cut accordingly, with some resources
held back to prepare effectively for next
season. In the meantime, the technical
team at the Hinwil headquarters
in Switzerland has focused on
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 53

Sauber
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total Value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Claro US$5m* October 2010 Undisclosed Premium Partner Telecoms
Telmex US$15m* October 2010 Undisclosed Premium Partner Telecoms
NEC US$3m* March 2011 Undisclosed Premium Partner Technology
Cuervo Tequila US$5m* January 2011 Undisclosed Premium Partner Beverages
Chelsea FC US$0.5m May 2012 Undisclosed Premium Partner Other
Oerlikon US$0.5m* January 2000 December 2015 Premium Partner Technology
Interproteccion US$0.5m* January 2011 Undisclosed Premium Partner Financial
Certina US$0.6m* January 2004 December 2013 Premium Partner Watch
Emil Frey US$0.5m* May 2010 December 2013 Premium Partner Automotive
Dekra US$0.3m* January 2013 December 2013 Official Partner Automotive
Mitsubishi Electric US$0.3m* January 2006 Undisclosed Official Partner Automotive
Nabholz US$0.2m January 2011 Undisclosed Official Partner Fashion
NetApp US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Official Partner Technology
OMP US$0.2m January 2013 Undisclosed Official Partner Technology
Thomann US$0.2m January 2010 Undisclosed Official Partner Automotive
Walter Meier US$0.6m September 2000 Undisclosed Official Partner Technology
Brutsch/Rüegger US$0.3m January 2002 Undisclosed Promotional Partner Automotive
Wiklund US$0.1m February 2013 Undisclosed Official Partner Fashion
On US$0.1m February 2013 Undisclosed Official Partner Fashion
Interoll US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Official Partner Technology
Jura US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Promotional Partner Beverages
MTO US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Official Partner Automotive
P1 US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Promotional Partner Fashion
Pilatus US$0.6m January 2010 Undisclosed Promotional Partner Other
Plozza Wine Group US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Promotional Partner Beverages
Riedel Communications US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Promotional Partner Other
Other Income
FOM TV US$64m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$98.2m
developing a car that was good enough
for four podiums in 2012. “The C31
was an extremely competitive car with
many strengths,” said Sauber’s chief
designer Matt Morris. “Our aim was
to further improve these strengths and
eliminate its few weaknesses.
“Our car looked after its tyres very
well during races last year. However,
we had problems now and again when
it came to getting the maximum out
of them in qualifying. We’ve looked at
this phenomenon closely and made the
required adjustments.”
Morris added: “We have set ourselves
lofty goals with the Sauber C32-
Ferrari, and I’m confident that we’ll
be able to meet them. The C31 gave
us a very good basis, to which we’ve
made further improvements. Our aim
is to line up for 2013 with a car that
is competitive from the first race, but
which also offers extensive potential for
further development.”
The team’s ace in the pack this
season may turn out to be Nico
Hülkenberg, recruited from Force
India. The 25-year-old German will
only be competing in his third full
season in the sport – he took a year out
in 2011 as Force India’s reserve driver
having debuted for Williams in 2010 –
but he already looks like a polished
54 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Despite a change in livery
from white to black for
Sauber in 2013 there is a
familiarly spartan quality
to the car after another
challenging scrap for
commercial backing
TELMEX
US $15m
NEC
US $3m
CERTINA
US $0.6m
CLARO
US $5m
Grand Prix driver: meticulous,
intelligent and quick. The team will be
looking to him to lead development
on the car and move it forward and
all the signs are he will do just that.
His reward at the end of 2013 may
well be a drive at Ferrari, whose close
association with Sauber extends well
beyond a supply of engines.
Hülkenberg’s new teammate,
Gutiérrez, has spent plenty of time
being groomed for a race seat as a
reserve driver for the team. Sauber
has high hopes for the 21-year-old
Mexican, who won the 2010 GP3
championship and has since spent two
years in GP2, finishing 13th in 2011
and third last season. He has tested for
Sauber at the end of every season since
2009, but a sustained period of winter
testing will be vital to his performance
in the early races of the year. “He has
always stayed in close contact with our
engineers, which has allowed him to
learn a lot about Formula One,” said
Kaltenborn. “I’m in no doubt he is now
ready to take the final step and put his
outstanding talent on display.”
Sauber has a history of promoting
new talent over the years, including
Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Robert
Kubica and Perez, and already there is
another youngster waiting in the wings.
Highly rated 21-year-old Dutchman
Robin Frijns replaces Gutiérrez as the
team’s reserve driver this season.
56 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Force India
2012 in review: Solid progress
2012 was a middling sort of year for
Sahara Force India. The team scored
40 points more than in 2011 but
finished a place lower, seventh, in
the world championship. It was an
indication of how much more evenly
spread the nine points-scoring teams
were in 2012 compared to the Red
Bull-dominated 2011. Unlike Lotus,
Mercedes and Williams, however,
Force India didn’t manage to win a
Grand Prix and, unlike Sauber, neither
did it make the podium once in 20
races. The team failed to get the type
of standout result that others in the
midfield enjoyed, although it was well
on the way to one at the last race of
the season until Nico Hülkenberg
collided with Lewis Hamilton.
So it was a solid year and no more
than that for a team which runs in
Indian colours but is run from a
factory on the fringes of Silverstone
in the UK. Majority owner Vijay
Mallya had a more troubled year
back at home, elements of his
business empire struggling amidst
high controversy and a great deal of
negative publicity. His Kingfisher
Airlines stumbles on for the moment
and Mallya sold a sizeable chunk of
his spirits business, United Spirits,
partly to reduce that company’s debts
and to free up capital for the flagging
carrier. None of those issues had a
direct impact on the Formula One
team, which Mallya co-owns with
Sahara, in 2012 but speculation along
those lines did it no favours during the
year. Mallya himself, perhaps believing
that the Formula One paddock
offered some kind of sanctuary
from his real world problems, was
decidedly unimpressed whenever he
was asked about the subject by the
sport’s press pack. They were, however,
understandable enquiries, especially
given the dearth of non-Mallya
companies on the cars.
Fresh investment
The Sahara Group, which bought into
Force India as a major shareholder in
2011, endured its own set of troubles
back home in 2012 but continued
its investment in the team, which
is coming in three US$33 million
instalments. Sahara India Pariwar
owns a 42.5 per cent stake, the same
shareholding as Mallya, with the
remaining 15 per cent retained by the
Mol family – the majority owners of
the team in its previous guise as Spyker.
At the end of the season, Mallya
confirmed that the board was planning
a UK£50 million capital investment
programme in the team and facilities.
“At the Christmas party Vijay
expanded on that,” said deputy team
principal Robert Fernley, who leads the
team day to day in Mallya’s frequent
absence, at the end of the season. “I
think it’s given everybody tremendous
enthusiasm. At the moment I’m looking
for the right land allocation so we can
build the facilities that we need. Things
are going to move at pace in the new
year. I think everybody is aware that
we’re keen to progress and become one
of the podium-contending teams. Vijay
will not be happy until we’re there.”
Fernley admitted to being cheered
by the team’s strong end to the season,
in which it became a frequent pointsscorer.
“From our point of view as a
season, [it was] a little disappointing
from the beginning,” he said,
“something we need to address, but
generally once we got our act together,
we were very, very strong.
“I think it’s been our Achilles’ heel
for two seasons that we’ve started
slow. There is no reason that I can
see – and obviously it’s the challenge
for the team – not to hit the ground
running. We have to come out of the
box performing in the same way as
we finished the season and there’s no
reason why we can’t achieve that.
On the driver front Nico Hülkenberg,
who spent 2011 as test and reserve
driver for Force India, fully justified his
promotion to the race team for the 2012
season and, indeed, emerged as one
of the stars of the year. The German,
a former A1GP and GP2 champion,
played his way in steadily through the
first few races, coming off the back of a
year of testing after his departure from
Williams at the end of 2010. Once
he found his feet, he was more than a
match for new teammate Paul di Resta.
Hülkenberg can count himself mightily
unfortunate to have been overlooked
by McLaren as a replacement for Lewis
Hamilton. As Sergio Perez heads there,
having been long considered a potential
Ferrari driver of the future, Hülkenberg
seems bound the other way, accepting
a 2013 drive at Sauber that may prove
to be a stopgap before a move to
Maranello. The signs of 2012 suggest he
would not be out of his depth in Italy.
After a good first season in Formula
One, 2012 was solid and no more for
Di Resta. The Scotsman – for whom the
term ‘dour’ might have been invented –
failed to make the kind of progression
that might have been expected from a
man so highly praised by the British
press corps in 2011. There were some
good drives through the course of the
year but Hulkenberg had taken control
of the team by the end of the season.
Di Resta’s slightly surly public attitude
towards not being signed up by one of
the bigger names probably did little to
endear him to a Force India team with
whom he will race again in 2013.
“I think finishing one position
down will make us hungry for next
year,” was how deputy team principal
Robert Fernley summed the season up
at its conclusion. “We shouldn’t come
away disappointed. Obviously we’ve
lost a position in the championship,
which is both frustrating and obviously
costly but on the other hand we
scored more points than we’ve ever
done in our history, so this particular
year was unusual.”
58 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Both UB Group and
Sahara Group had some
financial difficulties
to contend with in
2012 but their collective
commitment to
Sahara Force India
is unwavering
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 59

According to Force India
technical director Andrew
Green, the VJM06 is “a
brand new car from the
ground up” for the 2013
season, with an effort
made to rework all of the
elements that went into last
year’s model
2013: Business
“We begin 2013 hungrier than ever
before,” said Sahara Force India team
principal Vijay Mallya, giving his
verdict as the 2013 car was launched
at the end of January. The challenge
of building on the team’s best
season yet in terms of points, if not
championship position, has begun in
optimistic fashion. There have been
many words said and written about
the supposedly perilous finances of the
Anglo-Indian operation but while it
is true that it is heavily reliant on the
backing of Mallya, his companies and,
most recently, the Sahara Group, the
current investment in facilities and
infrastructure certainly doesn’t match
the perception of a team under serious
financial pressure.
Mallya offered an update on
that investment programme as the
VJM06 was unveiled at a typically
damp Silverstone. “The programme is
underway and we are currently looking
for the land to build our new wind
tunnel,” he said. “The team has done
a remarkable job with the resources
that we already have, but if we want
to realise our long-term ambitions we
need to give our engineers the best
tools available, starting with a state
of the art wind tunnel. The more
immediate benefits of our investment
are already in place for 2013 with
greater CFD capacity.”
Although part Mallya-owned UB
Group brands including Kingfisher,
Vladivar, Royal Challenge and Whyte
& Mackay still dominate the car, the
team has succeeded in luring Dutch
watchmaker TW Steel, one of the
more active Formula One sponsors,
from Lotus. Jordy Cobelens, the
exuberant co-owner of the brand,
made a point of emphasising the “key
growth opportunity” the team provides
in India as the deal was announced.
Smaller supply deals have been agreed
with Chatham Marine for footwear
and with equipment rental company
Speedy Services, while there is also a
new technical partnership in place with
3D Systems Corporation.
Mallya and Sahara, however, remain
integral to the financial wellbeing of
Force India. The former is confident
that the team will make a move forward
in 2013. “The first objective is to hit
the ground running and have a strong
start to the season,” he said. “That’s
been our weakness for the last couple
of seasons so we need to build on the
momentum and carry on where we left
off in 2012.”
60 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Paul di Resta (right),
seen here unveiling
the VJM06 with
deputy team principal
Bob Fernley, will be
partnered by the
returning Adrian Sutil
this year after a solid
but uninspiring 2012
2013: Sporting
Paul Di Resta stays with Force India
for a third successive year after failing
to secure a slot further up the grid.
The Scotsman had a patchy 2012 but
is a solid performer and has proved
well capable of delivering points on
a regular basis, even if his two years
in the sport have not yet produced a
spectacular result to distinguish him
from the pack. “He had a difficult end
to last season,” Mallya conceded, “but
we’ve worked hard to understand those
issues and I believe he can step up
another level this year.”
The identity of Di Resta’s 2013
teammate was not revealed until
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 61

Despite the arrival in recent
times of sponsors like
watchmaker TW Steel, the
Force India livery is still
dominated by UB Group
and Sahara brands
VLADIVAR
US $2m
KINGFISHER
US $5.2m
SAHARA
US $28m
WHYTE & MACKAY
US $6m
February, weeks after the launch of the
new car and the beginning of testing
in Spain. In the end the nod went to
Adrian Sutil, who drove for the team for
several years until the end of 2011 but
sat out the 2012 season. The German,
who brings backing from computer firm
Medion, had been engaged in a testing
shootout of sorts with Jules Bianchi,
the young Ferrari-backed Frenchman
who had been favourite for the drive
for much of the winter. Ultimately,
however, Bianchi’s position in the team
always seemed dependent on whether
Force India and Ferrari could agree an
engine deal for the 2014 season. With
that not immediately forthcoming,
Sutil was invited back to test the car
at the second pre-season test and had
his return confirmed just before the
third. A solid bet and no more, Sutil is
62 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Force India
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Sahara US$33m* October 2011 Ongoing Owner Other
Vladivar US$2m* January 2012 Ongoing Partner Beverages
Kingfisher US$5.2m* February 2008 Ongoing Partner Beverages
Whyte & Mackay US$6m* February 2008 Ongoing Partner Beverages
UB Group US$1.9m* February 2008 Ongoing Partner Other
Royal Challenge US$2.7m* February 2008 Ongoing Partner Beverages
Kingfisher Airlines US$9.5m* February 2008 Ongoing Partner Airline
TW Steel US$3m* January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Watch
Medion US$5m* March 2013 December 2013 Partner Technology
Internap US$0.8m May 2012 Undisclosed Partner Technology
Alpinestars US$0.8m February 2008 Undisclosed Partner Fashion
Aethra US$1m* February 2012 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Chatham Marine US$0.1m May 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Fashion
Reebok India US$0.8m January 2008 December 2013 Partner Fashion
Muc-Off US$0.1m January 2010 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
3D Systems US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Technology
AVG US$0.1m January 2007 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Schroth Racing US$0.1m January 2010 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
UPS Direct US$0.2m January 2007 Undisclosed Partner Other
STL US$0.1m January 2010 December 2014 Partner Technology
Still US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Miller Electric US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Speedy US$0.1m January 2013 December 2013 Partner Other
Other Income
FOM TV US$54.5m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$122.3m
a conservative choice but one likely to
match up well against Di Resta, whom
he partnered two years ago.
As far as the car is concerned,
technical director Andrew Green has
taken the lead, although the team is able
to take advantage of its technical support
partnership with McLaren and, despite
the Ferrari flirtation, an engine supply
contract with Mercedes. Green insists
the VJM06 car is a big improvement
on the 2012 effort. “It’s a brand new
car from the ground up – everything is
new,” he said. “We discussed carrying
over big chunks of last year’s car,
including the chassis, but decided not
to. There were still some gains to be had
with the chassis, so we elected to take
the performance benefits. However, the
car is evolution rather than revolution
compared with last year, simply because
of the nature of the regulations.”
Green added: “Obviously the
regulations are reasonably stable from
last year to this year and the ban on
the double DRS didn’t affect us, so the
transition has been more straightforward
than in previous years. Last year we
basically stopped bringing developments
to the track just after the middle of
the season so the trackside guys had a
chance to understand what they had,
rather than it changing every race, which
is what had been happening up to that
point. When you have a platform that is
stable you can refine it and really dial it
in. We focused on trying to understand
what the car was doing, where it differed
from our models and, importantly,
how we worked the tyres. We used that
extra knowledge for this year’s car and it
helped quite a lot.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 63

Williams
The FW34 carried Williams
to a much improved
showing in 2012 as the
team found the pace to
break from the midfield
pack and once again
threaten the podium places
2012 in review: Back on the top step
No result in 2012 was as celebrated
as Pastor Maldonado’s victory at
the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
Maldonado’s drive was cool, calm and
collected and the Venezuelan fully
deserved his day in the sun; the real
joy, however, was for his team, for
whom it was a first victory since Juan
Pablo Montoya won the 2004 Brazilian
Grand Prix.
It was certainly a dramatic afternoon
for Williams, with a major fire in the
garage curtailing the celebrations and
injuring several mechanics. It was a
mercy the incident, caused by a highvoltage
KERS unit exploding, didn’t
have a much worse outcome.
Overall, 2012 was a much improved
year for the British team, although one
in which it could have achieved more.
“The FW34 was a strong car and on the
whole we feel that we should have done
better with the equipment we had,”
was Sir Frank Williams’ considered
summary at the end of the season, and
it was hard to disagree given that 25 of
the 76 points the team scored all season
came on one Barcelona afternoon.
“Our long-run pace was consistently
strong and whilst we need to improve
on our qualifying pace, at certain tracks
we did manage to give the top teams a
run for their money over a single lap. Of
course the win in Spain was memorable
and showed that we can produce racewinning
cars. The rate of progression
we have shown over 2011 has been very
encouraging and I’m confident that with
the people we have in place, 2013 will
see us move further up the grid.”
New faces
While Sir Frank remains team principal
of the team which bears his name,
Toto Wolff, the Austrian entrepreneur
who bought into Williams in 2011,
took a much more prominent role in
2012, especially after the departure of
chief executive Adam Parr – the man
once considered Sir Frank Williams’
successor-in-waiting – in March. It was
widely believed that Parr left due to his
inability to strike a new commercial
deal for Williams with Bernie
Ecclestone. In his place, and with an
agreement secured, Wolff seemed to be
making the transition into the team’s
frontman by the end of the year, only
to dramatically take up a role as the
new Mercedes head of motorsport over
the winter, leaving Williams’ succession
plans somewhat derailed again.
Despite the missed opportunities on
the track and a touch of turmoil off it,
there was some good news at the end
of the year. The team’s share price – it
floated 21 per cent of shares on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March
2011 – finally rallied and reached the
launch price of €12.50 per share again.
On the technical front, the FW34
was a real advance on its predecessor and
much of the credit for that should go to
Mike Coughlin, who took up the role
of technical director after Sam Michael’s
departure in 2011. Coughlin is best
known for his role in the infamous 2007
McLaren-Ferrari espionage affair, for
which he was banned from the sport.
Having served his time, he has been
welcomed warmly at Williams and
did an excellent job taking full hold
of the technical reins in 2012. Chief
operations engineer Mark Gillan was
64 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
also, by all accounts, an important figure
in the running of the team during 2012,
but he resigned his position before 2013
dawned and will pursue a career as a
freelance consultant.
Maldonado makes his mark
Pastor Maldonado
showed last year that he
has the talent to go with
his financial support,
winning the Spanish
Grand Prix - Williams’
first victory since 2004
Driver-wise, Maldonado was teamed
with a fellow South American in 2012,
Brazil’s Bruno Senna, and had the
higher highs over the course of the
season – notably his Spanish win. But
Maldonado is still very much a rough
diamond: hugely quick, but also hugely
unpredictable. His victory in Barcelona
was as good as his apparent act of
retaliation during Monaco practice
against Sergio Perez, a reminder of a
similar incident with Lewis Hamilton at
Spa in 2011, was bad. His jump start at
the Belgian Grand Prix was ridiculous
and justifiably resulted in a penalty, one
of a bundle accumulated over the course
of the season. Maldonado is critical to
the team, however, as he brings millions
of Venezuelan petro-dollars with him, an
important part of Williams’ budget. He
still needs taming, but he is capable of
delivering the goods.
Senna, meanwhile, couldn’t quite
match the pace of Maldonado over the
year and didn’t have the spectacular
highs, or lows, of his teammate. The
Brazilian is a likeable presence on the
Formula One scene, but his ultimate
ability remains open to question. He
was, though, under the cosh from the
start at Williams, placed as he was in the
unfortunate situation of being required
to give up his car for one practice session
at 15 races throughout the year. That
the man who took that seat, Valterri
Bottas, a highly rated Finn managed
by Wolff, was given the nod for a 2013
race seat was not too much of a surprise
after that. Getting punted out of the
Brazilian Grand Prix, his home race,
by a championship-chasing Sebastian
Vettel may have been Senna’s last act as a
Formula One driver.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 65

The 2013 race team of
Pastor Maldonado and
Valtteri Bottas bring
heavyweight backing from
Venezuela and Finland
respectively but both are
also expected to produce on
the track
2013: Business
Despite the continuing presence of Sir
Frank Williams at the top of the team,
there have been many key personnel
changes at Williams over the past
few years. And just when it looked as
though there might finally be some
stability at executive level this winter,
the rug was very much pulled from
under the team when Toto Wolff,
the Austrian executive director and
shareholder, made a shock switch to
Mercedes Benz to head up its worldwide
motorsport activity. Although Wolff
will retain his shareholding in Williams
Grand Prix Holdings, believed to be
around 15 per cent, the Austrian will
have no other ties to the company. It
was a major blow, especially coming
only months after the departure of
chairman Adam Parr.
Sir Frank Williams was phlegmatic
and paid tribute to Wolff as his
departure was confirmed in January.
“He was a key support to me as
executive director last season,” he
said, “deputising at a number of races
when I was unable to attend. However,
positions such as the one offered to
him by Mercedes do not come around
often. Toto has a long history with
them and I certainly was not going to
stand in the way of him accepting this
once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Wolff’s executive director duties have
66 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Williams did not
introduce the FW35
until after the first
round of pre-season
testing but technical
director Mike Coughlin
remains “pleased with
the gains” made over
the winter
been shared amongst the other members
of the board’s executive committee, but
it is hardly an ideal scenario and again
leaves the long-term stewardship of the
team under question.
Aside from Sir Frank himself,
the key executives at the team are
chief executive Alex Burns, finance
director Louise Evans, general
counsel Mark Biddle and Claire
Williams, the director of marketing
and communications.
Commercially, Williams seems in
better shape than it has been for some
time. PDVSA’s dollars remain crucial to
the team’s overall budget but the arrival
of Valtteri Bottas in the race team
has led to the expansion of deals with
two Finnish companies, Kemppi and
Wihuri. As the FW35 was launched,
the team announced a renewal and
expansion of its deal with recruitment
firm Randstad, for what will be its
eighth consecutive year of sponsorship,
and a new multi-year deal with global
information services group Experian.
“Williams has been at the top many
times over the last 30 years,” Sir Frank
Williams said in February. “It’s the
nature of the sport to have ups and
downs, but when we are down we
always fight our way back. We will
have to wait until Australia to truly
see what we have, but we believe it is a
step forward from last year’s car which
was also a very competitive vehicle.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 67

Williams
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total Value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
PDVSA/Venezuela Tourism US$47m* January 2011 Undisclosed Partner Oil/Fuel
Randstad US$3m* January 2004 December 2012 Partner Other
Thomson Reuters US$3m* January 2000 Undisclosed Partner Media
Wihuri US$2m* May 2012 December 2013 Partner Technology
Kemppi US$2m* May 2012 December 2013 Partner Automotive
Experian US$4m* February 2013 Undisclosed Partner Technology
Oris US$2m* January 2003 December 2013 Partner Watch
Puma US$0.3m January 2012 Undisclosed Partner Fashion
PPG US$0.7m March 2003 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Man US$0.8m January 2000 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Michael Caines MBE US$0.2m February 2011 Undisclosed Partner Other
Ingenie US$0.2m November 2011 Undisclosed Partner Other
Other Income
FOM TV US$51.5m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$116.7m
WIHURI
US $2m
PDVSA
US $47m
RANDSTAD
US $3m
EXPERIAN
US $4m
2013: Sporting
Williams was the last of the 11 teams
to launch its 2013 car, unveiling the
FW35 before the second pre-season
test of the year in Barcelona midway
through February. A revised FW34
took the track at the first test in
Jerez, with the first four days of
winter testing used as an evaluation
of Pirelli’s 2013-specification tyres.
The team hopes to capitalise on the
extra time spent in the wind tunnel
developing the concept of the FW35.
Some 80 per cent of the car is new,
although Williams describes it as an
evolution of the race-winning FW34.
The car features a new gearbox,
new rear suspension, new radiators,
a new floor, new exhausts, new
bodywork, and a new nose, while
the team also says it has saved a
‘significant amount’ of weight.
“Given the rule stability over the
winter, I’m pleased with the gains
that we’ve been able to make with
this car,” said technical director Mike
Coughlin as the new model was
launched. “It’s a better, more refined
Formula One car than the FW34
and I think everyone involved in the
project can feel proud of the work
they’ve done.
“The Coanda effect is going to
be a big thing for us,” Coughlin
added, examining the development
race ahead. “There’s been no rule
clarification concerning this area of
the car, so we’ll work closely with
68 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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The Williams team has high
hopes for 23-year-old Finn
Valtteri Bottas, who will
step into a race seat this
year after winning the GP3
championship in 2011 and
impressing as a test driver
in 2012
Renault to maximise the available
gains. Use of the DRS is more
restricted this year, so we’ll take some
resource away from that and focus on
other areas.”
The team’s technical and engineering
structure has changed over the winter,
with Xevi Pujolar promoted from a
senior race engineer role to a newly
created position as chief race engineer.
Andrew Murdoch and Jonathan
Eddolls move into race engineer
positions. Other key figures are head
of aerodynamics Jason Somerville,
chief designer Ed Wood and race team
manager Dickie Stanford.
Pastor Maldonado – “a delightful
character who is a massively
determined racer,” according to Sir
Frank Williams – begins his third
season with the team and is an
established, if still erratic, presence on
the grid. Williams will be expecting
more consistent points finishes this
year from a man who proved capable
of the ridiculous and the sublime in
2012. The Venezuelan is a popular
character in the team and has, to a
large extent, now justified his place
in Formula One despite it being
fuelled by money from his homeland.
Nevertheless, 2013 is a year in which
he must show he is capable of stringing
together a full season of consistency to
go with his undoubted speed.
There are high hopes that in
Valtteri Bottas Williams may have
uncovered a real gem. The 23-yearold
Finn, articulate and intelligent,
has been promoted from the reserve
driver role. The 2011 GP3 champion,
described by Sir Frank Williams in
February as a “highly gifted driver”,
has plenty of experience of the
team already and is likely to give
Maldonado a run for his money once
he settles into his race seat.
Maldonado and Bottas is a stronglooking
pairing which, combined with
a well-tuned car, should see Williams
take a step forward in 2013.
70 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo (left)
and Jean-Eric Vergne
(right) were a close
match for each other in
2012, with the former
performing better in
qualifying and the latter
scoring more world
championship points
2012 in review: back of the midfield
In a year where the midfield runners
often came to the fore, Toro Rosso
never did. The Italian team, funded of
course by Austria’s Red Bull, ultimately
finished a rather disappointing ninth
in the constructors’ championship.
There was an upturn in form towards
the end of the season, culminating
in points finishes in six of the last
nine races, but overall the team was
more often than not to be found in
the lower reaches of the pack – and
sometimes even in the not-so-sweet
spot behind the main midfield runners
but well ahead of the stragglers,
Caterham, Marussia and HRT.
“I must confess I am not entirely
satisfied,” said team principal Franz
Tost in an interview with the official
Formula One website in November.
“The performance of the car is not on
the level I would want it to be, or that
I had expected. The car is too slow.
Period. We definitely have to sort that
out because next year we should have
drivers with enough experience to get
somewhere with a good car, preferably
at the front of the midfield.”
Technical shake-up
Although Toro Rosso’s core
management remained in place
– Austrian Tost remains firmly in
command of a team overseen by
Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport
consultant – there were several changes
to the technical set-up during the
course of the season. Most notable
was the departure of veteran Italian
engineer Giorgio Ascanelli, who had
been the team’s technical director
during its formative years following
Red Bull’s buyout of Minardi, and
the arrival in his place of Englishman
James Key, who left Sauber for Italy.
“As we realised that we were stumbling
technically, we knew that we had to
build up a stronger technical side –
build up a stronger department – and it
was then that we ‘ran into’ James Key,”
Tost explained. “He was our desired
candidate and we had to hurry up as he
was about to sign with another team.
He then settled for us.”
Key arrived in September and
confessed to being pleasantly surprised
by what he encountered. “What I
found exceeded my expectations: it
is not really clear from the outside
how the size of the team has grown
significantly over the past years and
the level of facilities has increased
72 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
and improved accordingly,” he
said. “For example, the new carbon
manufacturing facility just completed
in Faenza is state of the art and
would be the envy of many, given
the high standard to which it’s been
built and specified.”
Evenly matched
While the team has been on
something of a mission to become
as independent as possible from Red
Bull Racing, its big brother, there is
no denying the ultimate reason for
its existence. Devised initially as an
outlet for the best graduates from Red
Bull’s young driver programme, it
has stuttered somewhat in that regard
in recent years after the immediate
success of Sebastian Vettel, who
passed through in 2008 on his
way to Red Bull Racing and world
championship glory. Vettel’s rise, in
the eyes of Red Bull’s management
and notably Marko, was proof that
the model worked but the German’s
subsequent achievements have
certainly caused trouble for more
recent Toro Rosso drivers. The clinical
dispatching of Jaime Alguesuari and
Sebastian Buemi at the end of 2011
was a case in point. It did, however,
pave the way for two new talented
youngsters to have their shot. Daniel
Ricciardo, fresh from half a season at
HRT in 2011, and Jean-Eric Vergne
both performed solidly in 2012,
with the Frenchman outscoring the
Australian by 16 points to 10 over
the 20 races. In qualifying it was a
different story, with Ricciardo ahead
on Saturdays 15 times to Vergne’s
five; indeed, Vergne was eliminated
eight times after the first session of
qualifying. They are a close match but
neither has shown Red Bull yet that he
is worth a promotion to the Red Bull
Racing team in place of Mark Webber,
which would seem to be the ultimate
prize on offer.
Both men have been retained at
Toro Rosso for next year and that was
ultimately no surprise, despite Toro
Rosso’s recent record when it comes
to switching drivers. “I was always
prepared to have them for two years,
because Red Bull wouldn’t have them
in the first place had they not shown a
learning curve,” Tost said. “Both have
won championships in lower series, so
the pace gene is there.”
There was also a hint of a warning,
however: “How they will really
develop in Formula One we will see at
the end of 2013.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 73

Toro Rosso team principal
Franz Tost admitted in
November that he was “not
entirely satisfied” with the
team’s performance in 2012
after it struggled to make
any sort of impression in
the midfield battle
2013: Business
According to team principal Tost,
there is a simple aim for Toro Rosso in
2013. “We have set ourselves a target
of finishing sixth in the constructors’
championship,” he said as the team
unveiled its STR8 in Spain early in
February. Toro Rosso is now in its
eighth year and, apart from the obvious
highlight of Sebastian Vettel’s victory
at Monza in 2008, has settled as a
rather quiet member of the midfield.
Behind the scenes, the team has been
working hard at improving itself and
has become a far more independent
proposition than its early years, even
if the bulk of its funding still comes
directly from Red Bull.
There have been significant changes
at the team’s Faenza base in Italy.
“There is something of a new look
to our team,” said Tost. “In terms
of the Faenza facility itself, our
newest building, known as STR3, is
now fully operational and home to
our composites department, which
is equipped with the very latest
technology and, more importantly,
staffed with highly qualified people.
Being able to produce more and more
of our car in-house is a great asset as it
gives us total control over quality and
deadlines, which is vital if we want
to move up the order in the pit-lane.
There is more to come, with work on
another new building due to begin
in the second quarter of this year for
completion in 2014. It will be the hub
of our operation, providing new offices
and a home for our engineers and
designers who are currently working
out of a rather cramped facility.
The building will also house the car
assembly and preparation area, as well
as the quality control department, the
machine shop and stores.”
It is a major investment fuelled
ultimately by Dietrich Mateschitz,
although the Austrian-Italian outfit has
succeeded in attracting and retaining
its own small band of corporate
partners over the last three years. Nova
Chemicals, Falcon Private Bank and
Spanish energy firm Cepsa are all on
board again, having renewed deals
covering the 2013 season in January
and February.
For the seventh year in a row Toro
Rosso will use Ferrari engines, although
74 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
James Key has arrived
from Sauber to lead
production of the STR8,
with a remit to iron out
the weight distribution
and development
issues that blighted last
year’s car
the team has openly admitted it is
working to secure a supply of Renault’s
new V6 turbo for next season, which
would prove advantageous as the French
manufacturer is a long-term supplier and
technical partner of Red Bull Racing.
Ultimately, however, the team’s
primary purpose remains a potential
proving ground for youngsters funded
through the junior formulae by Red
Bull. In that respect, all eyes are on
Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne,
retained this year, to prove they have
what it takes to follow the Vettel route
to Red Bull Racing.
2013: Sporting
Toro Rosso has been quietly
revamping for some time now and
its new car, the STR8, is the fruit of
the labour of a technical team with
a new structure and some new faces.
Chief designer Luca Furbatto joined
in December 2011 and spent last
year learning the ways of the team
whilst developing the STR8. James
Key, formerly of Sauber, started work
as technical director in September of
last year, while over the winter a new
vehicle performance group, led by
chief engineer Laurent Mekies, has
been created to look for improvements
in areas such as data analysis. Key,
in particular, is highly rated and
should bring a calm authority to
technical matters, aided by new
recruit Steve Nielsen.
The team splits its work between its
expanding design and manufacturing
base in Faenza and a wind tunnel in
the British town of Bicester, with a
dedicated staff based in the UK to
carry out aerodynamic work. One of
Key’s biggest priorities has been to
improve communications between the
two bases. “That is fundamental to
what we do: a front wing will take the
same amount of time to design and
build for a given cost, but it could be
worth one tenth of a second or four
tenths of a second,” he said. “It’s those
four tenths that that count, so if you
squeeze the timing here in Faenza and
allow more time on the development
side, then ultimately it should result
in a better performance in the longer
term. Although there was already
an awareness of that, it’s been a case
of pushing that idea a bit more,
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 75

Toro Rosso
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total value Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Red Bull US$50m* November 2005 Ongoing Owner Beverages
Falcon Private Bank US$3m* May 2011 December 2012 Team Partner Financial
Cepsa US$5m* September 2011 December 2012 Team Partner Oil/Fuel
Nova Chemicals US$3m* June 2011 December 2012 Team Partner Other
Hangar-7 US$0.2m January 2006 Ongoing Team Partner Other
Usag US$0.5m January 2008 Undisclosed Team Partner Automotive
Volkswagen Italy US$0.3m January 2006 Undisclosed Team Partner Automotive
Siemens US$1m January 2010 Undisclosed Team Partner Technology
OMP US$0.2m January 2010 Undisclosed Team Partner Automotive
CD-Adapco US$0.2m January 2013 Undisclosed Team Partner Technology
Red Bull Mobile US$0.2m January 2011 Ongoing Team Partner Telecoms
App Tech US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Team Partner Automotive
Del Conca US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Team Partner Other
Duravit US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Team Partner Other
Hansgrohe US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Team Partner Other
Other Income -
FOM TV US$48.5m January 2009 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$112.5m
CEPSA
US $5m
RED BULL
US $50m
NOVA CHEMICALS
US $3m
FALCON PRIVATE BANK
US $3m
tightening the deadlines and stressing
the fact we must give as much time
as possible to aero. With the CFD
department based in Faenza, trying
to ensure that the communications
are as slick as they can be is also an
important priority.”
Furbatto sums it up thus: “12
months ago, when work came
through from Bicester, engineers
in Faenza felt on the receiving end
of something that was designed
elsewhere; now it really, really feels
like a co-design from different
departments within the same team,
which is encouraging for the future,
both short and long-term.”
The team’s broad-brush aim for the
new car is for that it will prove easier
to develop than its predecessor, which
suffered from weight distribution and
suspension layout issues and difficulties
in adapting the distinctive sidepods.
The team is also evolving from an
operational standpoint, discovering
last year that the most efficient way to
run a 20-race season (19 in 2013) is to
76 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
With their route to the
Red Bull senior team
seemingly blocked,
Vergne and Ricciardo
will have to do their
best to make Toro
Rosso as competitive
as possible this year
have 80 per cent of the team present at
100 per cent of the races and the rest
rotating to avoid burnout.
As far as the driver line-up is
concerned, Vergne and Ricciardo are
under no illusions that a step up in
performance is required this year:
Toro Rosso’s patience with drivers is
notoriously thin and management has
a habit of replacing drivers mid-season
should they not been deemed to be at
the required level. In particular, Red
Bull has Antonio Felix da Costa, a
Portuguese 21-year-old rated highly
by all who have seen him race, already
waiting in the wings. Tost, who has a
no-nonsense style of management, is
clear about what the team requires of
Ricciardo and Vergne.
“Naturally, we will be expecting
more from them this year as they
both tackle their second full season
of Formula One,” he said. “However,
we are well aware it is up to us to
provide them with a car that’s capable
of allowing them to show their
undoubted talent.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 77

Caterham
Caterham ensured a
bigger chunk of central
Formula One revenues by
taking tenth place in the
constructors’ championship
for a third year in a row
in 2012, but will still
be frustrated by its own
sluggish development
2012 in review: tenth - just
Caterham may have scraped into
tenth place in the constructors’
championships in the last few laps
of the final race of the year, ensuring
it will receive a far greater slice of
Formula One’s central revenues again,
but 2012 was still a very disappointing
year for Tony Fernandes’ team.
Vitaly Petrov’s 11th place finish at
Interlagos, achieved when he passed
Charles Pic’s Marussia, was the
difference between tenth and 11th in
the championship, but given the way
Caterham had talked up the season the
team should have been well clear of its
Russian-owned rival by that point.
Caterham ended the year as far away
from the midfield as ever, which was
hugely disappointing given 2012 was a
season in which it began a new engine
partnership with Renault, had KERS
at its disposal and fielded two drivers,
in Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen, who
were far from the worst on the grid.
Three seasons into the Caterham
project – the team operated as Lotus
in 2010 and 2011 before Fernandes
opted to buy Caterham and try to
develop that brand as a road car
production business – and the team
has come nowhere near to scoring
a point, even if it has claimed
the lucrative tenth place in the
championship, ahead of its rivals who
also first entered the sport in 2010,
three years running.
With Fernandes increasingly
diverted by his other projects in
aviation and, more recently, in soccer,
and the race team now part of a
broadening Caterham brand, a new
management team was assembled
towards the end of the season. With
the capable Riad Asmat promoted to
look after the Caterham Group as a
whole, the 35-year old-Frenchman
Cyril Abiteboul was appointed to
run the team. Abiteboul was formally
appointed as team principal at the end
of the year once his duties as deputy
managing director at Renault Sport
had been completed.
Mid-season upheaval
Caterham also had to contend with
some mid-season upheaval, leaving its
original premises in Hignham for a new
78 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Running out of steam
base in another UK town, Leafield in
Oxfordshire. On the technical front,
John Iley and Mark Smith now lead the
team, Smith as technical director and
former Ferrari man Iley as performance
director. It is a solid line-up, which will
probably start to bear real fruit in 2013.
Although he only joined in
September, Abiteboul summed up
Caterham’s season as he saw it from his
position as a Renault Sport executive in
an interview with the official Formula
One website in December. “The end
of the [last] race in Brazil meant two
things to me: firstly, it means we are
on a better financial footing than if
we had finished 11th,” he said. “The
benefits of that are obvious and it
means we have not had to compromise
our 2013 or future plans. The money
is obviously important, but what
finishing tenth also meant to me was
that it showed our team what it felt
like to be part of the show, and that’s
something that had been missing for
most of the 2012 season.”
Abiteboul added: “We started out
with a good gap to the teams behind,
and with work to do to catch the teams
ahead. At the European Grand Prix in
Valencia we were as close as we’ve ever
been to truly racing one of the teams
ahead, but since then we have been
almost racing on our own. That means
the boys in the garage and everyone
back at the factory has been missing
the adrenaline rush of real competition,
missing the emotional highs of success.
The power those emotions have to
inspire is undeniable.”
The lack of motivation appeared to
become an issue for Kovalainen, who
has been the team’s go-to driver since
its debut in 2010. After two seasons
of apparently boundless enthusiasm
in 2010 and 2011, it looked for all
the world as if the Finn just ran out of
energy in the latter half of 2012. Gone
was the optimism of the first two years
as it became abundantly clear that
the team was moving no closer to the
midfield. Indeed, Kovalainen’s mood
increasingly resembled that of Jarno
Trulli, the other driver in what was Team
Lotus in 2010 and 2011 – downbeat at
best. As the year ended, Kovalainen was
openly questioning whether he would
remain with Caterham for a fourth year.
He wouldn’t. It was no great surprise,
given Caterham’s increasing desire for
drivers with a budget, but certainly a
great shame that 2012 may well have
been the last year in Formula One for a
talented and approachable driver.
Trulli’s replacement, Petrov, brought
with him a bucket full of roubles but
also some raw talent from Renault/
Lotus. Like Trulli and Kovalainen
before him, he had to adjust to a life
where podiums were a pipedream,
but did so solidly and provided good
competition for his teammate. Like
Kovalainen, however, his longer-term
future in the sport remains unclear.
Financially, the importance of
the tenth-place millions cannot be
underestimated, although Caterham
– largely through Fernandes’ enviable
business network – was able to add new
partners in 2012. In August, an official
partnership was announced with EADS,
the aerospace and defence group, which
had its roots well beyond the Formula
One team. The deal also includes the
Caterham road car division. Petrov’s
presence also resulted in deals with
Russian Helicopters and petrochemical
company Sibur. Both were to exit the
team, however, with the driver.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 79

Frenchman Charles Pic
(left) has been poached
from Marussia after a solid
season in 2012 and has
agreed a multi-year deal.
He will be joined by last
year’s Caterham reserve
driver Giedo van der Garde
(right) in an all-new team
for 2013.
2013: Business
After finishing up at Renault Sport,
where he had been completing his
duties until the end of 2012, Cyril
Abiteboul started work full-time at
Caterham in January. The Frenchman
has plenty to do to try and haul a team
that had a disappointing 2012 – but
got away with it, financially at least,
by the skin of its teeth – into the
midfield battle. He will be largely left
to it by Tony Fernandes, the team’s
founder. Fernandes has stepped up
to become co-chairman of Caterham
Group – which now comprises a road
car division and dedicated subsidiaries
Caterham Composites and Caterham
Technology & Innovation as well as
the Formula One operation – and also
has a range of other interests around
the world to keep an eye on. “I am
realistic enough to know that we still
have a long journey ahead of us, but
the dream is steadily coming true,” the
Malaysian said in February.
“We have invested in the long
term, not taken any shortcuts and
we have everything in place to keep
moving forwards.”
In Abiteboul, Fernandes has
appointed someone with only limited
experience of Formula One team
management. How he fares will be
keenly watched, but short of a lottery
result it is hard to envisage Caterham
80 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Mark Smith, the
Caterham technical
director, has called the
CT03 an “important
milestone” in the team’s
development. But with
an eye on the sweeping
2014 regulations, it will
be an “evoloution” of
the 2012 car.
bettering the tenth place it achieved
with a touch of fortune last season.
Off the track, meanwhile, Abiteboul
says Caterham is in a “healthy
position”, fuelled for 2013 by its
multi-million dollar Formula One
Management funding from 2012
and a large new sponsorship package
from Dutch fashion house McGregor,
backers of the team’s new race driver
Giedo van der Garde. “We are still
a small team,” Abiteboul said in
February, “but our stated objective
is to be the most efficient of all
Formula One teams and thanks to our
determination, our scalability and our
processes, there is no reason we cannot
achieve this in recognition of the
ongoing investments our shareholders
and team partners make in us.
“We have partners in GE/Safran,
EADS/Airbus, Dell/Intel, McGregor
and Renault who are the envy of the
pit-lane,” he added. “Our relationships
with each of those businesses continue
to develop and we are delighted that
such blue-chip brands share our vision
and are an integral part of the team.”
Another element of stability is that
Caterham is now firmly ensconced in
its new home in Leafield, a move that
Abiteboul calls “the last big piece of the
jigsaw”. The team has the budget and
the know-how to make its move into
the midfield and shed its image as an
also-ran. It is time to deliver.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 81

Caterham
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Cash Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
GE US$30m* June 2011 December 2013 Premium Partner Technology
Safran US$6m* January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Technology
Dell/Intel US$0.5m April 2011 Undisclosed Technology Partner Technology
EADS/Airbus US$1m* August 2012 Undisclosed Partner Technology
McGregor US$9m* January 2013 December 2013 Partner Fashion
Beelen.nl US$1m* January 2013 December 2013 Partner Other
Tune Group US$5m* January 2010 Ongoing Partner Other
Naza Group US$5m* January 2010 Ongoing Partner Other
Caterham US$5m* January 2012 Ongoing Partner Automotive
EQ8 US$2m* January 2011 Undisclosed Partner Beverage
HPE US0.2m January 2012 Undisclosed Partner Technology
CD-Adapco US$0.3m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Technology
DuPont Refinish US$0.2m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Sparco US$0.2m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Fashion
VolP Unlimited US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Technology
Schroth Racing US$0.2m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
BRP US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Ruroc US$0.1m May 2011 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Linde US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Visa US$0.3m March 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Other
USI Italia US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Rodac US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Other Income
FOM TV US$45.5m January 2010 December 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$112m
2013: Sporting
With Vitaly Petrov and Heikki
Kovalainen jettisoned, there is
a considerably younger and less
experienced look to Caterham’s 2013
driver line-up. Frenchman Charles Pic
has been signed to a multi-year contract
after a solid first year in Formula One
with the team’s arch-rival Marussia,
while Giedo van der Garde steps up
from reserve to race driver and will
make his Grand Prix debut in Australia.
There are high hopes for Pic, who
is backed by former Formula One
driver and 1996 Monaco Grand Prix
winner Olivier Panis, but to further
burnish his reputation he needs to
put daylight between himself and
van der Garde. By modern standards,
the latter is making his Formula One
debut late. He has been on the fringes
for some years, getting the odd testing
run here and there, and raced last
year in GP2, finishing sixth overall. It
is no secret that he is backed heavily
by the McGregor fashion brand and
its multi-millionaire investor Marcel
Broekhoorn, who is also van der
Garde’s father-in-law. At 27, Van der
Garde is more experienced than most
Formula One debutants but anything
other than respectable performances
would be a major surprise.
“Charles and Giedo are both
young and dynamic and we expect that
their enthusiasm for the sport
and the team will be fuelling our
growth,” Abiteboul said of his new
pairing. “Additionally, they provide
clear proof of our dedication to
developing young driver talent and
now, any aspiring driver who dreams
of Formula One can see there is a clear
route to the Formula One grid under
82 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Cyril Abiteboul will replace
owner Tony Fernandes as
team principal in 2013 after
joining from Renault Sport
and will oversee an outfit
still lacking commercial
clout and thankful for the
bonus of additional central
revenue after last year’s
tenth place
EADS/AIRBUS
US $1m
MCGREGOR
US $9m
GE
US $30m
DELL/INTEL
US $0.5m
the guidance of the Caterham Driver
Development Program.”
Whether Pic and van der Garde
will be racing anyone but themselves
depends on what technical director
Mark Smith has produced in the
CT03: a car Smith described as an
“important milestone” in Caterham’s
development, and the first chassis
produced in Leafield. “We decided
that CT03 would be an evolution
of CT01 rather than a complete
redesign,” Smith said, “allowing us
to focus our resources on developing
areas of last year’s package where
opportunities would give us the best
return, while also beginning work on
the 2014 package.”
Smith has also overseen the
installation of a ‘driver in the loop’
simulator in Leafield, a piece of kit
which he believes will be worth its
weight in gold to Caterham and moves
the team on to the same playing field as
its better-funded rivals. “It constitutes
another example of the long-term
plans we are activating that will help us
continue to grow and develop into the
team we know we can become,” he said.
Already, however, there is an eye
on 2014. “All the teams will be racing
in 2013 with one eye on next year
when the new rules may present
opportunities to make significant gains,
much greater than those available
under static rules,” Smith added. In
the meantime, the team is desperately
hoping the CT03 can be the car to
finally break its points drought.
84 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Marussia
Though it finished outside
the top ten again in the
constructors’ race and
has yet to win a world
championship point,
Marussia will feel optimistic
about the futute after a
decent showing in 2012
2012 in review: So close and yet so far
All things considered Marussia can
consider itself mightily unfortunate not
to have taken tenth place in the world
championship, a result which potentially
means it will have to wait longer to
unlock the potential riches on offer by
Formula One Management to regular
top-ten finishers. Had Caterhambound
Charles Pic managed to hold
off Vitaly Petrov for a few more laps in
the Interlagos rain, it would have been
Marussia, not Caterham, celebrating
after the race. There was no suggestion
of foul play from Pic, a man whose
debut season in the sport was generally
adjudged to have been good, despite
the lack of opportunity to show it at the
back of the grid, but it was a great shame
for the entire team. In many ways, in
2012 Marussia outperformed Caterham
– with whom it has been locked in an
ongoing duel since the two debuted
together in 2010 – operating on a
smaller budget than its immediate rival,
with an increasingly outdated Cosworth
engine and without KERS.
The team also had little or no
pre-season testing after an initial
failed mandatory crash test scuppered
preparations for the campaign ahead.
“We had a tough start to the year and
we were unable to compete very much
at all in the way of pre-season testing,”
reflected John Booth, the Yorkshireman
who has won plaudits for the way he has
steered a new team through its difficult
Formula One baptism since 2010.
“Notwithstanding a difficult
debut for the MR01, we were able
to hold on to tenth place in the
constructors’ championship for the
first five races, before it slipped from
our grasp in Monaco. By the midpoint
of the season, we had caught
up with ourselves in terms of our
development strategy and the upgrades
86 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
we introduced at Silverstone were the
first iteration of wind tunnel-tested
components with the MR01. We never
really looked back from that point and
with each new race we were making
steps forward – large and small.”
A new name
If Marussia never looked like seriously
challenging the midfield runners, there
was still enough evidence to suggest
that it was finally stabilising after two
tumultuous years of technical shake-ups
and an ownership change. The team
was renamed Marussia for 2012, in
deference to its new owners from Russia
– Marussia owns a 70.6 per cent stake,
with the remaining 29.4 per cent in the
hands of Lloyds Development Group,
the private equity arm of the part UK
government-owned bank, which has
been involved in the team since it began.
The luxury, niche Marussia car brand
moved from sponsor to shareholder over
the winter of 2010 but has remained
very much in the background, save for
the appointment of a Marussia man,
Andy Webb, as team chief executive.
Webb forms part of a management
triumvirate along with Booth and
president Graeme Lowdon.
“In terms of the operational
detail the team is staffed with a
lot of people with Formula One
experience – team managers, our chief
engineer Dave Greenwood has won
world championships with previous
teams,” Lowdon told SportsPro in
February 2013 as he sought to explain
Marussia’s involvement.
“There’s a lot of very good, very
experienced people throughout the
team who enjoy working in the small
team environment. Collectively within
the team we’re left to manage that
kind of thing at the operational level.
Certainly, some of the more strategic
guidance comes from Marussia.”
Despite Marussia’s presence as
majority owners, the team is still run
on a comparative shoestring. According
to figures released in 2012 the team
made a UK£49 million loss during
2011, with turnover declining five per
cent to UK£28.5 million from the first
year, 2010. At the same time, costs
rose 11 per cent to UK£70 million.
The figures place Marussia’s keenness
to finish tenth and not 11th in the
championship in a new light.
Sensible progress
Given the lack of resource, Marussia and
its drivers, Pic and German Timo Glock,
put up a decent fight throughout the
year. Booth, speaking on the last day of
the season in November, was cheered by
the progress the team has made since the
start of the year. “Much has been made
of closing the gap to Caterham, but
at the same time we have reduced the
delta to the midfield and the front of the
field,” he said.
“For example, in Australia the gap
between our own fastest lap and the
winner’s fastest lap was 4.5 per cent,
whilst in the closing stages of the
season we have reduced that to 2.5 per
cent – again, without KERS. So if we
reflect on our big picture, it is even
more encouraging than may have
been apparent.”
Glock, the team leader for a third
season, had another solid year during
which his only real competition was
Heikki Kovalainen at Caterham. That
said, Pic ran Glock closer than either
Lucas di Grassi or Jerome D’Ambrosio,
the German’s previous two teammates,
and has been rewarded with a multiyear
deal at Caterham.
Glock, meanwhile, had been
committed to a fourth year with the
team but in January the 30-yearold
left by mutual consent. He
subsequently signed for BMW, where
he will race in the 2013 DTM series.
“Timo has made a very significant
contribution to our team over the past
three seasons,” Booth said. “He is a
fantastic driver and he has been a very
popular member of the team.
“Our team was founded on the
principle of benefiting from proven
experience whilst also providing
opportunities for young emerging
talent to progress to the pinnacle of
motorsport. Thus far, this philosophy
has also been reflected in our
commercial model. The ongoing
challenges facing the industry mean
that we have had to take steps to secure
our long-term future. Tough economic
conditions prevail and the commercial
landscape is difficult for everyone,
Formula One teams included.”
The popular Timo
Glock again provided
level-headed leadership
to Marussia in 2012 and
will leave a considerable
gap after leaving for the
DTM series this year
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 87

As the season began
Marussia was the only
team on the Formula One
grid that had yet to sign
a bilateral commercial
agreement with Formula
One Group, meaning it will
have to wait to see what
the full financial impact of
last year’s 11th-place finish
will be
2013: Business
Despite the reality bite of another
11th-place finish in the world
championship and a split with its
lead driver, 2013 shows all the signs
of being the best season in Marussia’s
short history. Continuing the solid
progress of last year is the key to a
more substantial challenge this year
and the team made a good start by
getting its new car ready in time for
the first pre-season test at the start
of February. That in itself was a
significant improvement on 2012.
Contrary to widespread belief,
the team’s financial position was
unaffected by losing out on tenth
place to Caterham at the death in
2012. “It certainly had implications
for some other teams, because of the
way the numbers are calculated,”
Lowdon explained, “but it didn’t
change the way we approach 2013.”
Rather than missing out on millions
of dollars, Marussia simply missed an
opportunity to record a tenth-place
finish which, according to the terms
of the Concorde Agreement which
expired in December, would have
moved them closer to ‘Column One
team’ status. Column One teams are
eligible for additional central revenues
from the sport but a team is required
to finish tenth two years in a row to
qualify, hence Caterham’s celebrations
at achieving a third successive tenth
place. However, with a new Concorde
Agreement yet to be ratified, there is a
possibility the revenue sharing system
may change anyway.
As January turned to February
Marussia was the only team not to
have a signed bilateral agreement in
place with the sport’s commercial rights
88 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Designed by former
Benetton and Renault
engineer Pat Symonds,
returning after his
‘crashgate’ ban, the
MR02 has been built
with an emphasis on
aerodynamics and
incorporates the KERS
system that last year’s
car lacked
holder, Formula One Group. While far
from an ideal situation, Lowdon says
the day-to-day running of the team is
unaffected and its world championship
entry secure.
“Where it would make a difference
is if we made an assumption that we
wanted to have various benefits,” he
said, “but I think the important thing
for us is to be very prudent about
how we do our planning. In terms of
our planning and budget we just have
to base that around what’s actually
happening. It’s part and parcel of
everything else. We don’t start each
day with that being the prime topic.
There are commercial sponsorship deals
that we are discussing at the moment
which could provide significantly more
revenue, for example. It’s in the mix
with all the other factors we have to
deal with as a business but it’s not the
overriding thing.”
The team’s new car was unveiled in
Jerez at the start of February and will
take part in a full testing programme.
Although new drivers Max Chilton
and Jules Bianchi – a late replacement
for Luiz Razia after a key sponsor of
the Brazilian withdrew – are believed
to have both brought funding to
the team in return for their seats,
sponsorship logos on the car remain
sparse. One new partner of note is
business management software and
services streamliner Sage. Lowdon
said, however, that the team is a more
solid commercial proposition than
ever, going into a season in which
further progress is a must. “One of the
advantages that we do have as a smaller
team is that we’re very, very flexible
and can come up with some quite
innovative solutions,” he told SportsPro.
“We’ve got a very good network of
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 89

President Graeme Lowdon
(left) says Marussia’s
challenger status allows
it to be flexible in
accommodating partners
but few doubt that the
signings of drivers Max
Chilton (right) and Jules
Bianchi have a heavy
financial imperative
business-to-business attributes through
our shareholdings with Marussia and
Lloyds Banking Group and so we play
to our strengths.”
2013: Sporting
An all-new driver line-up will drive a
well-tested car this season. The MR02
was launched prior to the first test
session of the year and is the work,
primarily, of technical director Pat
Symonds. The former director of
engineering and championship
winner at Benetton and Renault
is returning to the spotlight after
spending the last couple of seasons
as a remote consultant to Marussia
while he served out his ban from
the Formula One paddock for his
involvement in the Renault ‘crashgate’
affair of 2009. He has prepared a
good-looking car, which will certainly
benefit from pre-season testing miles.
“The incremental steps we were taking
in the latter half of last season gave us
the confidence not only to fight hard
for tenth place in the constructors’
championship, but to feel encouraged
by our overall design direction,” said
team principal John Booth as the new
car was launched.
“We are confident that the MR02 is
the product of evolving elements of last
year’s package whilst integrating the
new KERS system.”
The team says that a lack of KERS
was a ‘strategic omission’ but its
addition this year could be the key
to challenging Caterham for tenth
place, its first target. “We opted to
place the emphasis on aerodynamics,”
added Booth, “so that when we were
in a position to bring the system to
the car, we already had the strongest
possible basis and its integration would
be relatively straightforward. Thus far,
this has certainly been the case, as our
trackside engineering team have spent
the winter refining their tools and
preparing for the addition of
fKERS to
ensure we can hit the ground running.”
While the car may be an
improvement, it is undeniable that
90 l BLACK BOOK 2013

1Team by Team 2013
Team by Team 2013
Marussia
* Cash component to deal
Sponsor Total Contract Start Contract End Status Sector
Marussia US$45m* January 2010 Ongoing Partner Car manufacturer
Avelo US$2m* January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Technology
Sage ERP X3 US$$1.5m* January 2012 Undisclosed Partner Technology
Bifold US$0.5m* January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Automotive
Free Radio US$0.1m January 2013 Undisclosed Partner Other
Armin Strom US$3m* January 2011 Undisclosed Partner Watch
Qnet US$2m* November 2010 Undisclosed Partner Other
Ansys US$0.2m January 2013 Undisclosed Supplier Technology
CarPlan US$0.5m February 2012 December 2013 Supplier Automotive
JCC Lighting US$0.1m March 2012 December 2012 Supplier Other
Lincoln Electric US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Technology
PerkinElmer US$0.2m January 2011 Undisclosed Supplier Technology
RTR US$0.1m January 2011 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Servotest US$0.1m Ferbruary 2010 Undisclosed Supplier Technology
Sparco US$0.1m January 2012 Undisclosed Supplier Automotive
Other Income
FOM TV US$10m January 2010 November 2012 TV monies -
Total
US$65.5m
the team will be weakened by the
absence of the talented Timo Glock
this year. The combination of Bianchi
and Chilton, the former second in
last year’s Formula Renault 3.5 series,
the latter fourth in GP2, is youthful
and likely to be a touch exuberant at
times in 2013. Whether they can guide
Marussia technically as Glock did
remains to be seen.
23-year old Bianchi was in
contention for a Force India drive
for much of the close season before
Marussia came calling at the end of
winter testing. The Frenchman has
strong links to Ferrari and could well
be the team’s key to unlocking a new
engine supply deal at Maranello.
Chilton’s father, meanwhile, is a vice
chairman of insurance giant Aon and
steered his son into a reserve driver role
last season.
Formula One is a step into the
unknown for both but they have a
rare opportunity to make a major
impression in what should be
Marussia’s best car yet.
QNET
US $2m
MARUSSIA
US $45m
CAR PLAN
US $0.5m
ARMIN STROM
US $3m
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 91

Section Two
Circuits 2013
2
Australia: 94
Malaysia: 98
China: 100
Bahrain: 102
Spain: 106
Monaco: 108
Canada: 112
Britain: 116
Germany: 118
Hungary: 122
Belgium: 126
Italy: 128
Singapore: 130
Korea: 132
Japan: 134
India: 136
Abu Dhabi: 140
USA: 144
Brazil: 150
Expert comment is provided by former Williams and Toro Rosso commercial
chief Jim Wright and former Jordan GP marketing director Mark Gallagher

Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne has hosted the
Australian Grand Prix every
year since 1996. Albert Park
has staged the seasonopener
every year except
2006 and 2010.
The Australian Grand Prix switched
from Adelaide to Melbourne in 1996
and has opened the Formula One world
championship on all but two occasions
since then.
Albert Park, which is turned from
public parkland into a Formula One
circuit each year, has become a very
popular start to the season.
The event itself is run by the
Australian Grand Prix Corporation
(AGPC), which also runs the Australian
MotoGP race at nearby Philip Island
and is led by chief executive Andrew
Westacott and chairman Ron Walker,
but the bulk of the funding for the
Grand Prix each March comes from the
public purse.
A record AUS$56.7 million of
taxpayer funds, paid through the
government of Victoria, were spent on
staging the race last year; a combination
of set-up costs in Albert Park and annual
race fees payable to Formula One.
Further rises are expected over the next
couple of years as part of the contract for
the event, which was negotiated in 2008
and runs until 2015.
Although the race costs far more
than it makes through ticket sales and
hospitality, pro-Grand Prix supporters
cite the wider economic impact and
the substantial brand exposure that
Formula One provides for the city of
AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Albert Park, Melbourne
2013 date 15th-17th March
2013 title sponsor Rolex
Contract expires 2015
Melbourne. The precarious financial
situation traditionally turns the event
into something of a political hot potato,
however, although Victoria premier
Ted Bailleu remains in favour of a race
which recorded its highest four-day
crowd since 2005 in 2012.
“The Grand Prix has been good for
Melbourne, good for Victoria and
94 l BLACK BOOK 2013

As a temporary circuit, there
are significant set-up costs
for the Grand Prix around
Albert Park Lake each year.
The cost of the race has been
questioned by politicians.
good for our major events team,” Bailleu
said during the 2012 Grand Prix, won
by Jenson Button and watched by a race
day crowd of 114,900, part of an overall
attendance of 313,700.
“What we have said stands... that we
will look at the Grand Prix as a value
for money proposition,” he added, “and
we have a further three Grands Prix on
the contract and that is the way we will
consider it.”
Along with the myriad corporate
hospitality options laid on by AGPC
at various points on the track – the
2013 event was due to feature, for the
first time, an exclusive Grand
Prix Breakfast with guest
appearances by motorsport stars –
no other Grand Prix has a support
race programme and entertainment
package to rival Australia’s.
From a team and sponsor perspective,
too, the Australian Grand Prix continues
to have its place on an ever-expanding
calendar. “Although Australia is a small
market it’s a great place for Formula
One to start off in because many
multinationals have a presence there,”
is how Mark Gallagher, the former
marketing director at the Jordan team
and general manager at Cosworth F1,
puts it. “It’s an English-speaking market
which means it’s very user-friendly
for many multinationals to bring
international guests to the race. It’s quite
often a race the Asia/Pacific region of
a multinational sponsor will come to
because of the great atmosphere.
“The infrastructure is so good in
Melbourne and it’s a good transport
hub. It’s a good race to start the season
as a result.”
Jim Wright, formerly Williams’ head
of marketing, concurs. “It’s a good place
to start the season, in Melbourne as a
city event,” he says. “I would rate it in
the top 25 or 30 per cent in terms of
commercial importance.”
96 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Malaysian Grand Prix
The Malaysian Grand Prix
has been held at the
Sepang International Circuit,
on the far outskirts of
Kuala Lumpur, every year
since 1999
The Malaysian Grand Prix has been a
mainstay of the Formula One calendar
for well over a decade now. It is an
event fuelled by government money
and a desire to use Formula One to put
the country on the map, an ambition
which, to an extent at least, has been
fulfilled since the first race in 1999.
“I think the race is very well bedded
in as long as the government continues
to see Formula One as an important
calling card for the country and
promoting business and tourism to
Malaysia,” says Mark Gallagher.
Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri
Najib Tun Razak, speaking at the 2012
race, described the event as “an engine
of growth in our country”, adding
that some US$69 million in economic
impact is generated each year.
“We should promote the race not
only to the local market but also to
capture attention of the entire Asean
region,” he added. “Leveraging on
such an opportunity would increase
the level of exposure that Formula
One in Malaysia can give to promote
the country as a destination and place
to do business.”
The Grand Prix takes place at the
Sepang International Circuit, a state of
the art venue built on the far outskirts
of Kuala Lumpur specifically to host
Formula One but one that is now
perhaps a touch frayed around the
edges after a decade of use; Sepang is
also a regular stop on the MotoGP
schedule and hosts a variety of other
international, regional and national
meetings each year.
The lack of a local hero, save for
a couple of brief forays from Alex
Yoong some years ago, has not harmed
crowds in recent years: the 2012
event attracted a creditable Sunday
attendance of 90,000, thanks in no
small part to some of the cheapest
ticket prices of the season, although
organisers admitted that was some
5,000 below their expectations. In all,
119,960 came through the gates over
98 l BLACK BOOK 2013

2Circuits
Circuits
three days.
As Jim Wright says, referring to
the long-term support of firms such
as Petronas: “Within Malaysia and
certainly within the KL region it has
become pretty well established and
I think there’s decent support for
Paddock Club and things like that.”
Gallagher, however, offers a slightly
different view. “As a race, from a team
and sponsor point of view Malaysia is
never heavy with guests,” he says. “It’s
not a huge market for many of the
companies that I’ve had experience of
working with in Formula One.
“I feel that until Singapore came
along Malaysia ticked the box for that
part of Asia and we always had some
presence from sponsors at that race,”
he adds. “As an event, because it’s
outside KL, it definitely added to the
global reach of Formula One when it
came along and it continues to play an
important part in doing that.”
Malaysia’s contract with Formula
One Management runs until 2015.
At the time the latest extension
was signed, local organisers came
under some pressure to install costly
floodlights and follow Singapore’s
lead as an evening event to better
suit European TV audiences. A
compromise of sorts was reached in
2009 with the introduction of a 4pm
MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Sepang International
Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
2013 date 22nd-24th March
2013 title sponsor Petronas
Contract expires 2015
start time. However, twice since then
the race has had to be significantly
delayed or shortened due to lateafternoon
monsoons. The floodlight
issue may yet return when the time
comes for the government to reevaluate
the merits of Malaysia’s largest
annual sporting event.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 99

Chinese Grand Prix
Formula One was slightly ahead of
the curve in touching down in China.
The country hosted its first Grand Prix
in late 2004, with the sport grasping
an opportunity created by Shanghai’s
desire to match Beijing’s efforts to
grow its international status through
hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
The country’s second city created
what remains a state of the art, almost
spaceship-like facility – complete with
a capacity of a quarter of a million.
However, after nine Grands Prix
China has yet to be fully enthused by
Formula One, a great disappointment
to the many who believed a race in
the country would open up lucrative
opportunities in a vast new market.
China has not taken to Formula
One in any significant way and the
blame for that lies with both the local
promoters of the event in the country
and with Formula One, which has
failed to tackle the issue of promoting
itself there in a coordinated manner.
“I think it was well founded,” says
Jim Wright of the hope that existed
amongst Formula One marketers
ahead of the first race in Shanghai,
won by Rubens Barrichello for Ferrari.
“But what you need is for a central
rights holder and a local promoter to
be behind that. The teams can only
do so much. Unfortunately neither
the central rights holder nor the local
promoter has done a good job in
China. What do we do, collectively as
Formula One, to promote ourselves in
China? The answer is nothing.”
Gallagher believes there was an
assumption that Chinese investment
would naturally follow a race in China.
“Teams initially thought Chinese
companies would flock to Formula
One just because it was a big sport
that was coming to China,” he says.
“The Chinese are very shrewd business
people, they don’t tend to give people
their money unless there’s a very good
reason to do so, and actually China
became more an important market for
CHINESE GRAND PRIX
Location
Shanghai International
Circuit, Shanghai
2013 date 12th-14th April
2013 title sponsor UBS
Contract expires 2017
existing western sponsors to activate
programmes to achieve some market
penetration. But even that doesn’t work
because Formula One just doesn’t have
the following in China that it needs
to – although the TV numbers seem
impressive it’s only a tiny percentage of
the population of China.”
Gallagher adds: “I’ve spent a great
deal of time in China and in Shanghai
particularly and my understanding from
talking to senior executives in China is
that until Formula One finds a value
proposition for Chinese businesses that
shows Chinese companies what is really
in it for them – and it’s not branding
and hospitality, it’s definitely much more
on the B2B space – it’s going to be very
difficult. Until you get major Chinese
companies backing Formula One and
promoting Formula One in China I
think the population will struggle to get
behind it. I think someone needs to go
and talk to Barry Hearn about how a
sport like snooker can become so huge
in China when a sport like Formula
One has failed to take off.”
Despite the obvious promotional
problems, the Chinese government
continues to back the event financially.
Having covered the costs of financing
the Shanghai International Circuit,
the vice mayor of the city was able to
announce a new seven-year agreement
to host a Grand Prix in February
2011. The deal runs until 2017 and
is believed to include a reduction on
the original US$40 million annual fee.
Locally, the race is run each year by
Shanghai Juss Event Management, a
sports marketing firm operating in the
Shanghai area.
100 l BLACK BOOK 2013

2Circuits
Circuits
The Shanghai
International Circuit
hosted the first Chinese
Grand Prix in 2004. The
race has been on the
Formula One calendar
every year since.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 101

Bahrain Grand Prix
The government-funded
Bahrain International Circuit
in Sakhir was designed and
built to put the tiny island
kingdom on the map
The Bahrain Grand Prix became
Formula One’s first race in the
Middle East in 2004. The purposebuilt
Bahrain International Circuit
(BIC), located deep in the Sakhir
desert around half an hour from the
tiny island kingdom’s capital city of
Manama, was government funded – as
is the reputed US$40 million annual
hosting fee – and part of a wider plan
to establish Bahrain on the world map.
The event quickly came to be
known for the warmth and enthusiasm
of local officials, even if it never quite
attracted the same level of interest
from the population at large despite
huge promotion across Bahrain in the
early years of the race.
Since 2011, however, the Grand
Prix has been overtaken by events
in the country. Political tensions
and violence saw the 2011 race first
postponed, then cancelled, but it
returned in highly controversial
circumstances in 2012 – primarily as
a tool for the Bahraini government to
show the world that its country was
open for business.
The Grand Prix took place amidst high
security and high tension, mercifully
passing without major incident.
The morality of Formula One
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
Location
Bahrain International
Circuit, Sakhir
2013 date 19th-21st April
2013 title sponsor Gulf Air
Contract expires 2016
racing in Bahrain was hotly debated
throughout the build-up to the event.
The kingdom’s wider problems, the
politicisation of the race through the
ill-judged ‘UniF1ed: One Nation in
Celebration’ official event tagline, and
why exactly Formula One needed
102 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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The Bahrain Grand Prix
returned to the Formula One
schedule in controversial
circumstances in 2012, after
the 2011 race was cancelled
due to political tensions on
the island
to take the risk and hold a race at a
venue where, rightly or wrongly, at
least some of its number were plainly
uncomfortable, were just some of the
issues that vexed the sport.
The Gulf Daily News Englishlanguage
newspaper, the self-styled
‘Voice of Bahrain’, reported that
28,000 people attended the race – just
over half the Bahrain International
Circuit’s capacity.
According to the publication, BIC
chairman Zayed Al Zayani also insisted
between 25,000 and 30,000 spectators
had been present on the first two days
of the meeting.
The Bahraini government has a
contract with Formula One until
2016, while circuit officials are
continuing with their efforts to
attract other series – the FIA World
Endurance Championship visited in
late 2012 – and switch on the local
community to motorsport.
The 2012 event was understandably
quieter than usual from a commercial
perspective but, political problems
aside, Mark Gallagher suggests the
Bahrain Grand Prix’s biggest hindrance
has been the arrival of a second race in
the Gulf region, the Abu Dhabi Grand
Prix, in 2009. “I’d be very concerned
about the future of Bahrain, not just
for the political issues but commercially
it’s difficult to see what it delivers
for Formula One long-term because
in itself it’s not a big marketplace,”
Gallagher says.
“The United Arab Emirates is
much more aggressive in terms of its
commercialised approach to sport,
which means Abu Dhabi realistically
has a greater potential to be long-term.”
Gallagher believes that the Bahrain
International Circuit, which is
now run by Shaikh Salman bin Isa
Al Khalifa, has suffered since the
departure of original chief executive
Martin Whitaker. “One of the great
drivers behind Bahrain in the early
days was the fact that he knew
everyone in Formula One so well,”
Gallagher says, “and I think that built
something behind it.
“It’s a nice facility,” he adds. “The
people behind it are hugely supportive
of Formula One and the trick is really
to find a meaningful contribution
Bahrain can make long-term in terms
of the business piece. At the moment
that seems very difficult to deliver.”
104 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Spanish Grand Prix
The Circuit de Catalunya
near Barcelona first staged
the Spanish Grand Prix in
1991. The race remains
popular from a corporate
hospitality point of view.
The Spanish Grand Prix has been
staged at Barcelona’s Circuit de
Catalunya every year since 1991 and
for much of that time the event has
marked the start of the European
portion of the world championship.
Between 2008 and 2012 a second
Spanish race, known as the European
Grand Prix, was held on a port-side
circuit in Valencia, the country’s
third city. Valencia’s race was born
out of the city administration’s desire
to continue to promote itself on the
world stage after successfully hosting
the America’s Cup in 2007 and
Formula One’s desire to tap further
into a Spanish market booming after
the arrival of Fernando Alonso as one
of the giants of the sport. However,
a combination of political issues, a
circuit and venue in Valencia which
didn’t endear itself to the Formula
One community and Spain’s financial
collapse have contrived to ensure that
two Spanish races are unsustainable
for the regional governments which
largely fund them. From 2013, there
will be just one, in Barcelona, and
although there is a plan on the table
for Barcelona and Valencia to take
turns at hosting the event – Barcelona
in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019,
Valencia in 2014, 2016 and 2018 –
the future of the latter remains more
than uncertain.
“I think there’s a greater appetite for
Barcelona than there is for Valencia
from a corporate hospitality and
marketing point of view,” says Jim
Wright, “but if Barcelona can’t afford
it every year and it has to alternate
then so be it. The teams and sponsors
will work to that. I would say if you
gave everyone a choice, we’d probably
prefer to stay in Barcelona.”
Wright describes the Spanish Grand
Prix as a “very useful event” from a
corporate perspective. Mark Gallagher
adds that the “European season does
have bite and for all sorts of reasons”,
despite the fact that the 2013 calendar
contains only seven races – a record
low – on the continent.
“It’s certainly the case that all
the teams continue to be based in
Europe and there continues to be a
Euro-centric aspect to sponsors, and
therefore the first local race means
a lot of people can go who wouldn’t
have dreamed of travelling to the
faraway races – and particularly
with travel budgets cut at many
companies,” Gallagher adds.
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2Circuits
Circuits
The rise of Fernando
Alonso has added
thousands to the gate at
the Spanish Grand Prix
over the years. The Ferrari
driver remains a huge star
in Spain.
“Barcelona is a great place for
people to hop down to, super
infrastructure, Fernando Alonso
local hero, and major companies
like Santander who have supported
Formula One. It’s a great event and I
think one that everybody does regard
as a good place to start the new part
of the season.”
As for Valencia, despite local
estimates that its Grand Prix has
generated over €240 million for the
city, Mark Gallagher says the race “is
a good example of why street circuits
don’t always work”. He adds: “Street
circuits really only work, in my view,
when it’s around the recognisable
streets of a city that has something
to show the world. Valencia does
have a heart, unfortunately we don’t
race in the heart, we’re out portside.
It’s difficult to know what that’s
actually saying.
“Valencia, I think, just miscued.
The location doesn’t quite work, bit of
a concrete jungle and I don’t think the
Spanish marketplace could ever sustain
two Grands Prix. If they alternate
I think it’s more likely that people
will skip Valencia and keep going to
Barcelona every other year. Barcelona
is such an accessible city. There are still
too many people who have to get to
Valencia by transiting through another
hub and quite frankly if you’re having
races in Europe no one should have to
transit through anywhere, you should
be able to fly direct and if you can’t it
becomes something of a non-starter.”
Wright adds: “The city of Valencia
do nothing to promote it, presumably
because they’ve spent their money
SPANISH GRAND PRIX
Location
Circuit de Catalunya,
Barcelona
2013 date 10th-12th May
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2019
on the rights fee. I think the night
image definitely helps Singapore. If
you said to me, ‘Let’s have a night
race in Barcelona, around the streets,
with all the Gaudi buildings as a
backdrop,’ would that be a different
matter? I think the answer’s yes. It’s a
combination of the docklands setting,
another daytime European race and
the fact that Spain’s economy is
obviously struggling.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 107

Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix is
often described as Formula
One’s jewel in the crown
and for good reason. Year
after year the race attracts
a celebrity crowd and the
corporate elite.
MONACO GRAND PRIX
Location
Monte Carlo, Monaco
2013 date 23rd-26th May
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2021
All the clichés are true. Despite
Singapore’s best efforts, the Monaco
Grand Prix remains the jewel in the
crown of the Formula One world
championship and the event remains
as important to the sport as the sport is
to Monaco. It is for those reputational
reasons, built up over decades, and
thanks to continuing royal support
from the Grimaldis that Monaco,
to some extent at least, continues to
play by its own commercial rules. It
remains the race like no other from
that point of view, even if the arrival of
the likes of Singapore and Valencia on
the calendar means that its Grand Prix
on the streets is not quite as unique as
it was a decade ago.
“I think Monaco has the heritage to
still edge it,” says Jim Wright. “It’s the
quirkiness, the weather, everything else.”
The first Monaco Grand Prix took
place in 1929 and the event has been
part of the world championship on
all but three occasions (1951, 1953,
1954) since 1950. Apart from minor
changes, the same circuit has been used
throughout, with Casino Square and
the harbour front providing just two of
the key backdrops.
In a hark back to the days when
national sporting clubs ran motorsport
unencumbered by promoters or global
governance, the Monaco Grand Prix
is organised, promoted and staged
by the Autombile Club de Monaco
(ACM). ACM holds virtually all
the commercial and marketing
rights around the race, although for
reasons of purity it does not sell title
sponsorship rights. Monaco is also
the only remaining race in Formula
One where the world feed is produced
by a local broadcaster, ensuring the
principality can showcase itself as it
wishes – while, given the restrictions of
the location, much of the hospitality
element is a free-for-all.
For the last four decades the Grand
Prix has effectively been run by one
man, Michel Boeri. Boeri, president
of the ACM since 1972, enjoys a close
relationship with Bernie Ecclestone,
but must also marshal a host of
108 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Nowhere else in the world
can spectators get as close
to Formula One cars being
driven in anger
stakeholders in and around Monaco
to ensure the Grand Prix takes place
smoothly in the principality each year.
“At 5am everything is open,” he told
SportsPro in 2011, “and at 5.30am
everything is closed and it becomes a
track. That needs an organisation not
only from the Automobile Club but
from the state and public services; it’s
tradition. It’s a question of experience.”
Boeri has direct control over 20,000
grandstand seats and around 13,000
or 14,000 people who view the race
from a lofty position on the hillside
below Prince Albert II’s royal palace. A
conservative estimate suggests 50,000
watch for free on balconies or from
yachts in the harbour.
The budget for the race each year,
including set-up costs, is around
€35 million. Around €10 million of
that is supplied by the Monegasque
government, the thinking being
that far more will be generated for
Monaco through direct and indirect
economic impacts.
Officially, Monaco has a Grand Prix
contract until 2021 in a deal agreed
in July 2010 which also guarantees a
fixed May date. It would, however, be
unthinkable for Formula One to lose
the race.
Commercially and corporately, it
has grown in importance through
the years, although Jim Wright and
Mark Gallagher are slightly cautious
about the future. Says Wright: “I think
one danger with Monaco is the new
restrictions, particularly in terms of the
Bribery Act, which make people think
if they should be going to Monaco and
how they should be going to Monaco,
rather than perhaps some of the
opulence we’ve seen in previous years.”
Gallagher adds: “The corporate
marketplace is slightly more suspicious
of Monaco because at a time of
corporate belt-tightening and senior
executives coming under scrutiny for
the junkets that they go on, I think
Monte Carlo does send out the wrong
message to some corporates.
“But actually that is all washed away
by the fact that for privately wealthy
individuals, the owners, entrepreneurs
of companies, for senior executives
who have the wherewithal to do
their own thing, Monaco remains a
huge attraction. It’s very noticeable
it attracts a young generation of
party-goers – even the 20-somethings
from monied families in Europe go to
Monaco and still regard it as a Mecca.
Monaco will never lose its appeal as a
pillar of the world championship.”
110 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Canadian Grand Prix
Located in the Saint
Lawrence Seaway, the
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
hosted its first Canadian
Grand Prix as long ago
as 1978
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, named
after Canada’s favourite motorsport
son, lies on the Île Notre-Dame in
the Saint Lawrence Seaway and has
firmly established itself as a favourite
of Formula One teams and fans over
several decades.
Mark Webber, speaking at last year’s
race, eloquently outlined the general
view of the event when he said: “It’s
a sensational event – one of the top
few Grands Prix of the year; fans-wise,
drivers, mechanics, photographers,
journalists, everyone loves coming
here. The city really embraces the
event, the restaurants go for it, the
driver parade lap here is one of the
best parade laps we do in the season.
So there’s a huge amount of positive
aspects which we’ve had here. For a
long, long time, the Canadian Grand
Prix has been held here in a very, very
positive fashion.”
The circuit first hosted the Canadian
Grand Prix in 1978 and has done
so in all but two seasons since. Most
recently, the 2009 event was removed
from the calendar after the failure of
promotional company Grand Prix
F1 du Canada Inc, run by Normand
Legault, to pay its annual race fee.
The race returned for 2010, much
to the delight of the Formula One
paddock, with a new promoter in
Octane Racing Group and a fresh new
approach. The Canadian Grand Prix
walks a financial tightrope at the best of
times but in November 2009 Octane,
led by president and chief executive
François Dumontier, secured a five-year
contract covering 2010 to 2014.
“I think we only realised how good
it was when we didn’t go for that
year,” says Mark Gallagher of a event
which, before the return of the US
Grand Prix in 2012, was Formula
One’s only North American stop. “We
went back in 2010 and everyone was
just blown away by the reaction of
the Canadian fans. It’s a super race, a
fantastic venue.”
112 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Despite its popularity
amongst fans, teams and
drivers, the Canadian
Grand Prix walks a financial
tightrope and faces a battle
to keep its slot beyond 2014
The Canadian and Quebec
governments, plus the city of
Montreal and its tourism offshoot,
are providing an annual investment of
some CAN$15 million to ensure the
race happens, with the government of
Quebec paying CAN$4 million and
Montreal US$1 million. The Canadian
government and Tourisme Montreal
pay around US$5 million each. In
return, the parties receive a 30 per cent
share of ticket sales revenue.
Keeping the event on the Formula
One calendar is a near-constant
financial balancing act and with talks
on a contract extension likely to begin
after the 2013 race in June, tough
negotiations are seemingly ahead.
Jim Wright, for one, believes that
the Grand Prix in Austin will have
“absolutely zero” impact on Canada’s
largest single-day sporting event, but
suggests the proposed race in New
Jersey, now pencilled in for 2014 after
being postponed for 2013, may do
given that “it’s a hop, skip and a jump
from New York to Montreal”. He adds:
“Time will tell but Canada has its own
economy, a strong economy. I think it
will continue to survive. It’s also a very
different race and the timing of the
race is superb for most TV markets, so
long may it continue.”
Gallagher concurs and adds that the
event itself has become something of
a magnet for corporate guests. “From
CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Circuit Gilles
Villeneuve, Montreal
2013 date 7th-9th June
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2014
a commercial point of view, a lot of
sponsors like it. It’s easy access from
Europe, it’s quite a short flight. It’s
great for the North American market,
easy to get people to come there. It’s
a great, multicultural city, great hotels
and restaurants.
“Quite frankly, you couldn’t ask
for more.”
114 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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British Grand Prix
Silverstone is one of
Formula One’s classic venues
and has seen substantial
improvements in recent
years, notably a revised
track layout and a new pit
building, dubbed The Wing
Silverstone will forever be enshrined in
Formula One history as the stage for
the first world championship Grand
Prix in 1950. The former airfield has
changed significantly since then, not
least in the past couple of years.
Following the sport’s ill-fated
flirtation with Donington Park,
Silverstone’s owners, the British
Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), finally
reached agreement on a long-term
contract with Formula One in 2009.
The deal averages out at over US$17
million a year until 2026, with a break
clause inserted after ten years. The
BRDC then set to work on a major
programme of redevelopment, which
included significant track changes
and the construction of a new pit and
paddock complex.
The Wing, as the new pit building
was christened, cost between UK£27
million and UK£28 million to build.
It is 390 metres in length, 30 metres
tall at its highest point and includes
41 pit garages covering 6,200 square
metres, all-new race control and
media centres, 8,200 square metres
of hospitality space including three
large halls, and a 120-seat auditorium.
It was designed to significantly
improve Silverstone’s corporate
offering, although it has received
something of a mixed reaction from
the motorsport community. “I think
The Wing facilities for VIP guests are
a disappointment,” says Jim Wright.
“The whole experience, from parking
at Copse Corner and having to get on
an ex-Northampton council bus to
be transported for another couple of
kilometres to the Paddock Club, is not
great. I think the actual Wing building
leaves a lot to be desired as a Paddock
Club venue in comparison with other
circuits around the world.
“It’s sad because I think if someone
had spent more time and attention
on it, it would have been a superb
building. It’s still very important but
they need to put some effort and work
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2Circuits
Circuits
BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Location
Silverstone
2013 date 28th-30th June
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2026
into the VIP experience because at the
moment it’s not great.”
With two thirds of the Formula
One teams still based in the UK –
namely McLaren, Red Bull Racing,
Lotus, Mercedes, Force India,
Williams, Caterham and Marussia
– Silverstone remains an important
venue on the Formula One calendar
from a corporate perspective. The
corporate experience, however, is not
always a glowing one. “I’m not sure
they’ve got the mixture right,” suggests
Mark Gallagher. “There’s something
a little bit soulless about Silverstone
from a corporate point of view.
“The Wing has certainly added
tremendously to the infrastructure
and that is a real credit to the BRDC.
Silverstone will continue to draw the
corporate audience simply because
it’s in one of Europe’s biggest markets,
simply because eight of the Formula
One teams are based in the UK so
it’s a home race for so many people.
But I think they’re coming to
Silverstone more because of the
geographical location in the UK than
because Silverstone per se represents
a buzzy place to be. It’s undoubtedly
successful and now they’ve got the
long-term contract that’s not going
to change.”
Although a three-day crowd of
297,000 – 80,000 on Friday, 90,000
on Saturday and 127,000 on Sunday
– attended the 2012 Grand Prix, the
event was something of a throwback
to the bad old days. Sustained rainfall
in the weeks leading up to the race
saw Silverstone plunged into the kind
of muddy congestion crisis that was
the norm a decade ago, most notably
in 2000 when the GP took place at
Easter rather than in its usual late
June/early July slot.
The longer-term vision at
Silverstone is for a further phase of
redevelopment, but new investment is
required to make that happen. Talks
with a Qatari group about a 150-
year lease on the circuit broke down
in March 2012, leaving the BRDC
looking for fresh investors to fulfil its
ambitions for one of Formula One’s
most traditional venues.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 117

German Grand Prix
The future of the German
Grand Prix remained under
threat until January when
the financially stricken
Nürburgring reached a deal
with Formula One to host
the 2013 race
Germany’s two Formula One-standard
circuits have shared the German Grand
Prix since 2008, an alternation model
which appears likely to be replicated
elsewhere in Europe over the coming
years. The financial burden of hosting
a Grand Prix annually had taken its
toll on both the Nürburgring and
Hockenheim, making the decision to
split hosting rights – Hockenheim in
2008, 2010 and 2012, the Nürburgring
in 2009, 2011 and 2013 – inevitable.
Whilst just about manageable
during the sport’s boom years in
Germany, when Michael Schumacher
was winning regularly, two races
in the country ultimately proved
unsustainable for both of Europe’s two
largest sports arenas.
Even now, with just one race every
two years, significant challenges remain
for both venues, a fact starkly illustrated
by a race-day attendance of just 59,000
at the 120,000-capacity Hockenheim
last year. The Nürburgring, meanwhile,
has been engulfed by financial problems
since it lasted hosted a Grand Prix
in 2010. It pays US$13 million to
Formula One Group to host the race,
but that is split over two years.
Despite that relatively low fee, only
the intervention of the local state
government, which already owns a 90
per cent chunk of Nürburgring, in the
form of a nine-digit loan appears to
have saved the circuit from bankruptcy
following years of financial calamity
and legal wrangling. Hockenheim
had been faced with the unappetising
financial prospect of once again hosting
the German Grand Prix every year; for
the moment, at least, that possibility
has faded, although as the year started
no deal had been agreed with the
Nürburgring to host the 2013 race
with the German Grand Prix venue
listed as TBC. Its place on the calendar
was eventually confirmed in January.
For all the current challenges,
however, Germany remains a European
stronghold for Formula One, with the
emergence of Sebastian Vettel as a triple
world champion, Schumacher’s return
and the presence of a fully fledged
Mercedes team on the grid combining
in recent years to ensure the sport
remains very popular in a country
of 80 million consumers. “There’s
significant car manufacturers there
who will undoubtedly continue to use
Formula One from time to time,” adds
Mark Gallagher, a reference to not only
Mercedes but BMW, which withdrew
from the sport in 2009.
“Nürburgring and Hockenheim are
both a bit of a jaunt,” Gallagher
118 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Since 2007 the Nürburgring
has hosted the German
Grand Prix in odd-numbered
years, sharing the race
with Hockenheim
GERMAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Nürburgring
2013 date 5th-7th July
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2018
continues. “They’re not in the middle
of the action in terms of big cities,
but the German marketplace does
use it [the Grand Prix]. In its heyday,
early 2000s, when Schumacher was
dominating, it became one of the
massive races in Formula One. I
think it’s suffering now a little bit
from Formula One overexposure in
Germany but, like the UK, Italy and
Monaco, I’m certain Germany will
remain a fixed attraction.”
Jim Wright adds: “It’s still a very
important market. Nürburgring has all
the heritage, Hockenheim is a little bit
more convenient. I don’t see a problem
with either of those venues in terms of
taking partners to it and its importance
in the German marketplace. It’s very,
very important and both circuits do a
decent job.”
The Nürburgring, in particular,
occupies a special place in Formula
One history – the daunting
Nordschleife circuit is still used today
as a revenue generator for would-be
racing drivers to pilot vehicles around
– as Toro Rosso team principal Franz
Tost explained in 2012. “Everybody
in the world knows the Nürburgring
who’s involved in motor racing,”
he said. “I just hope that all the
politicians find a solution to get the
money together that the Nürburgring
will survive. Because in the meantime
a fantastic infrastructure has been built
up around the Nürburgring with all
the hotels and, apart from this, there
are many workshops where parts for
racing cars have been produced. It
would be a shame if people would lose
their jobs from this. There are many,
many races over there: the 24 Hours
for example, and a lot of other races,
and especially Formula One. I just
hope that in future we will also have a
race there because the Nürburgring is
history for motorsport in general and
especially for Formula One.”
120 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Hungarian Grand Prix
Located on the dusty
outskirts of Budapest, the
Hungaroring hosted its
first Formula One race in
1986 and is poised for an
extension until at least 2021
The Hungarian Grand Prix has been
staged every year since 1986 at the
Hungaroring, a technically challenging
circuit on the outskirts of Budapest.
The layout itself has been modified on
a couple of occasions, most recently in
2003, but more changes are planned as
a result of a new deal which should see
the race remain on the Formula One
calendar until at least 2021.
In June last year the founding father
of the event, Tamas Frank, passed
away. Frank, more than anyone else, is
responsible for Hungary’s longstanding
place on the Formula One calendar,
thanks in no small part to his excellent
relationship with Bernie Ecclestone.
His loss was a major blow to local
organisers, although his legacy is likely
to be a new long-term deal to take the
event into the next decade.
The Hungaroring currently has a
contract to host a Grand Prix until
2016 and internal discussions about
the financial framework required to
sustain the event beyond that time
have been underway for some time,
so much so that in November 2012
Hungaroring executive Peter Gerstl
was able to announce an agreement
with Ecclestone for five more years.
It is believed that the contract will be
signed at the 2013 event, confirming
that the Grand Prix will take place
until at least 2021. The Hungaroring
has also agreed to fund a package
of track improvements, including
another layout tweak designed to
increase overtaking and upgrades to
122 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Spectators get a good deal
at the Hungaroring, which
lies in a natural valley. 80
per cent of the track is visible
from any vantage point
surrounding facilities.
“Despite the costs of the construction,
the race means significant income for
our country on a national level,” Gerstl
was quoted as saying.
Despite the obvious attractions of
nearby Budapest, one of Europe’s great
cities, the Hungarian Grand Prix has
mixed appeal amongst the Formula
One community. “I think it ranks
pretty low,” says Jim Wright, frankly.
“Not from a spectator point of view –
it still attracts a decent crowd and it’s a
decent circuit, a bit different to some of
the others – but I’ve never experienced
sponsors sticking their hands up
saying, ‘That’s a must.’ Commercially,
it has little value and there’s obviously
no sponsorship of note that has ever
originated from Hungary.”
Mark Gallagher, however, offers a
more positive assessment. “It’s a very
popular venue for the teams and media,”
he says. “It’s good for sponsors. Budapest
is a great city. I think the hope that
Hungary might have provided a gateway
to the eastern European market never
really developed. I think it’s a good event
but it hasn’t achieved its potential.
“I think Formula One ought to
be seeing how Hungary can be used
better to attract the audiences from
the surrounding nations. Ticket prices,
of course, are a fundamental problem
across all of the world championship
but I think in eastern Europe, with
lower wage levels, Hungary represents a
fairly expensive proposition. The loss of
HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Hungaroring, Budapest
2013 date 26th-28th July
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2016
Robert Kubica was a real blow because
we lost that Polish audience who
were going to use both Germany and
Hungary to come and see their hero.”
Aside from its annual Formula One
race the Hungaroring, which sits in a
natural valley ensuring that 80 per cent of
the racetrack is visible from any vantage
point, hosts a wide variety of other
formulae, notably a round of the FIA
World Touring Car Championship.
124 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Belgian Grand Prix
For all the logistical
challenges of Spa-
Francorchamps, the circuit
is amongst the very finest
in the world and its race is
a highlight of the Formula
One season
For Formula One fans, Spa-
Francorchamps is a must; for Formula
One’s corporate community the event
is slightly less attractive. Situated deep
in the Ardennes forest, Spa retains
something of the past, the circuit
winding uphill and down through the
trees along the same roads as all of the
great drivers of Formula One history
have raced. It has an atmosphere all of
its own.
From a business perspective, however,
the Belgian Grand Prix has struggled for
some years. It continues to be on any
list assembled of races with uncertain
futures and seems to be beset by
financial and political challenges.
A complicated commercial set-up,
with several stakeholders including
more than one regional government,
and the challenge of location and lessthan-ideal
surrounding infrastructure
have ensured the long-term future
of the event is flimsy at best. That is
despite organisers revealing that the
2012 edition benefited the Belgian
economy to the tune of €43.4 million.
Despite the undoubted allure of
the circuit itself – along with Suzuka
it is regarded by drivers as the most
challenging on the world championship
calendar – local organisers have
traditionally struggled to draw the
crowds. Around 60,000 are thought
to have attended the event in 2012,
a figure hit partly as a result of the
limitations of surrounding facilities.
The infrastructural difficulties have also
made the race a difficult sell for teams
and sponsors.
“It’s declined,” confirms Jim Wright,
“and that’s principally for three reasons.
The amount of money which is being
charged now for VIP hospitality is way
too high for that market to be able
to justify. I think that the continuing
question mark over the race for a
number of years also did it some harm
and I think the third aspect which
has come into play in recent years is
that it’s come now towards the end of
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the August holidays and increasingly
August, corporately, is holiday. Getting
corporate guests to come to Spa when
it’s late August is very difficult.”
So precarious is the financial
tightrope walked by Spa-
Francorchamps that local organisers
were reportedly in discussions about a
potential race-sharing model with Paul
Ricard, a former host of the French
Grand Prix, midway through 2012.
That never materialised, however, and
it is likely Spa will push for a contract
extension on its own until at least
2016, with its current deal believed to
be expiring at the end of 2013.
“Spa is a great venue for your
petrolhead sponsors, or a guest of a
sponsor who just loves Formula One,”
says Mark Gallagher. “If a sponsor
has canvassed his customers they
will know who’s into it and anyone
who’s into it will want to go to Spa at
some point. In Europe, Spa, Monza
and Monaco tend to be the big three
that people want to go to if they’re
into Formula One. You can’t bring
large numbers to Spa, there isn’t the
infrastructure hotel or hospitality-wise.
It’s modest from a commercial point
of view but the passion of the people
that go there probably outweighs the
lack of numbers.”
The passion of the drivers for Spa is
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Spa-Francorchamps
2013 date 23rd-25th August
2013 title sponsor Shell
Contract expires 2013
undimmed. Michael Schumacher raced
there for the final time in 2012. He
said: “It’s one of the old character tracks
with lots of history. It is going through
the natural countryside that we are in,
the up and down like a rollercoaster;
there are so many variants that make it
so particular and so special.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 127

Italian Grand Prix
Monza has hosted motor
racing since 1922 and has
staged the Italian Grand Prix
all but once since 1950, the
exception coming when
building work was carried
out in 1980
Located around half an hour from
the centre of Milan, the Autodromo
Nazionale Monza is one of the shrines
of motorsport. Woven into Monza’s
Royal Park, it has been the scene of
motor races since 1922 and since
1950 it has been home of the Italian
Grand Prix, save for the 1980 race
which was held at Imola while track
refurbishments took place.
As Ferrari’s home race the Italian
Grand Prix has as its traditional
backdrop the Tifosi, especially in a
year when the team is still involved
in a world championship tussle by
September. The passionate support
and the rich history of the venue
combine to make the race one of the
standout attractions on the calendar.
The podium, located uniquely on
a bridge overlooking the pit-lane,
always provides one of the images
of the season, with fans flocking
underneath it after the race –
particularly if the top three includes a
Ferrari driver.
The race also has an important
commercial role. It brings with it the
traditional arrival of a delegation of
Ferrari executives led by president
Luca di Montezemolo, and is also
the final stage of the European part
of the season. Deals, be they driver
announcements or sponsorships for
the following year, have historically
been done at Monza, although as the
final international swing of the season
expands almost annually the Italian
Grand Prix gets further and further
from the end of the championship.
“There are a number of things
about Monza,” confirms Mark
Gallagher, before examining the
commercial appeal of one of Formula
One’s most traditional yearly events.
“Its proximity to Milan favours it
because a lot of corporate guests
and their spouses or partners regard
Milan as a great place to go, so it
ticks a box there. Its presence as the
last European race means that, in my
experience, quite often what happens
is European sponsors suddenly have
a rush of urgency to cram in the
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final European race, so there’s a big
build-up of enquiries about Monza in
mid-July when everyone realises it’s
the last race before it’s off into the rest
of the world. It works from that point
of view.
“Then there is the Spa brigade, the
die-hards, who want to stand on the
banking and take in the atmosphere
of the Monza park. All of those things
combined make it a very popular
event and one that is a vital pillar of
Formula One long-term.”
Although popular the event is
an expensive one for the corporate
community, according to Jim Wright.
“The pricing argument still applies
to the Italian market and I think it’s
difficult for them to spend that kind of
money on corporate guests,” he says.
“Timing-wise, though, it’s OK
because people are back from holidays,
and because it’s always the first
weekend in September it benefits from
that [consistency of date]. It’s a very
traditional venue.”
The overall crowd at the race
tends to rise and fall depending on
Ferrari’s performance. In a good year
it is packed to the rafters; in a bad
one, such as 2009, there are swathes
of empty seats, even in the main
grandstand opposite the pits.
Such is the historic importance
of the event, it is believed that the
Societa Incremento Automobilsmo
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Autodromo Nazionale,
Monza
2013 date 6th-8th September
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2016
e Sport (SIAS) pays a much smaller
annual hosting fee to Formula One
Management than many other races
on the calendar. SIAS, which is 70 per
cent owned by the Automobile Club
of Milan and 30 per cent by its estate
agency, was responsible for building
and managing Monza.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 129

Singapore Grand Prix
In just five years Singapore’s
floodlit street race has
become a firm favourite on
the Formula One calendar
and one of the season’s
most glamorous events
Singapore joined the Formula One
calendar in 2008, one of several new
races to pop up over the past decade.
None, though, are quite like that
staged by the tiny south-east Asian
city-state. The Grand Prix takes place
at 8pm local time, under floodlights
which are installed around the city’s
Marina Bay District. It has become
an instant classic of the sport, a
challenging and unique test for drivers
and a magnet for corporate and
celebrity guests alike.
The event itself is the brainchild
of local billionaire Ong Beng Seng, a
reclusive type who has a longstanding
relationship with Formula One chief
executive Bernie Ecclestone. Ong,
in collaboration with the Singapore
government, not only hit upon the
idea of an annual Formula One race
as a way to promote Singapore but
had the masterstroke of making it
the sport’s first night race. The plan
has worked a treat; few races on the
world championship calendar are as
popular and even fewer have been as
immediately successful.
It was no surprise, given the
performance of the event, that in 2012
the Singaporeans agreed to extend
their deal for the race until at least
2017 – although the negotiations
were believed to be hard-fought,
with the government keen to find
a way to reduce the original annual
race fee of around US$50 million.
The government funds 60 per cent
of the race, with the rest covered by
Ong’s private entity, Singapore GP
Pte Ltd. The overall cost of the event,
once lighting installations and track
set-up are also factored in, is some
US$122 million annually. It is believed
Singapore has found a way to reduce
that amount, although it is unclear
if that means a reduction in the fee
payable to Formula One beyond 2013.
“We believe Formula One has added
a new dimension to our city,” Ong
SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
Location
Singapore
2013 date 20th-22nd September
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2017
said. “But we feel this spectacular
night race has also brought a different
dimension to Grand Prix racing.”
Formula One certainly feels the benefit
of the 8pm start time: the race is
beamed live to Europe, which remains
the sport’s television heartland even as
the location of races moves away from
the continent, at lunchtime.
Jim Wright agrees with those who
believe Singapore has very quickly
bedded in as a Grand Prix venue. “It
has established itself as one of the very,
very top events,” he says, “despite very
high prices. It is very, very popular.
The imagery which comes from
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that event is very strong. The local
promoter works very, very hard at
making sure everyone is catered for –
spectators, corporate guests, etc – and
its positioning in Asia is obviously a
very premium-positioned economy.”
Mark Gallagher concurs. “From a
business point of view it’s a great hub,”
he explains, “and perfect to fly into
from all over Asia. It’s got everything.”
Gallagher does, however, identify
one area of potential concern relating
to Formula One’s annual trip to the
city-state. “One thing that perhaps
Singapore needs to be a little bit
cautious about is that sponsors pick up
things when they talk to locals and it’s
noticeable that the locals are left cold
by Formula One on many occasions –
taxi drivers will quite often complain
about the race being in town. I think
that takes the edge off the experience
sometimes. This is one of the things
that Formula One has to be careful
about: the authenticity of events in
terms of their appeal is important. I
think there’s still work to be done in
Singapore but it is a superb event to
visit and the commercial audience
loves it.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 131

Korean Grand Prix
From an image, location and
financial point of view, the
Korean Grand Prix leaves
a lot to be desired. It will
stage its fourth Grand Prix
in 2013.
If the ultimate aim of any Grand Prix
venue is to showcase the city, region
or country in which it takes place
then the Korean Grand Prix is a prime
example of how not to do it. The
Korea International Circuit, backed by
regional and national government, was
specially built to host Formula One
and staged its first race in 2010. Two
more races have been held since then:
financially and in terms of image, they
have been disastrous for the country.
“The location of a Grand Prix
is very important, in terms of the
populous and sponsor community,”
explains Mark Gallagher. “From
a commercial point of view Korea
has backfired spectacularly.” The
location problem is not one that
can be resolved. The circuit lies in
the south-west of the country in the
Yeongnam region, part of the South
Jeolla Province. The nearest town is
Mokpo, a major shipping terminus
with, by all accounts, little else to
commend it. The Korea International
Circuit, originally conceived to be
the glamorous centrepiece of a newly
built city and resort, is therefore
hundreds of miles away from the
country’s capital, Seoul. It is, as one
wag memorably put it some years ago,
akin to “staging the British Grand Prix
in Aberdeen”.
“The major Korean companies are
not associated with it,” Gallagher says.
“Bernie Ecclestone was promised a
huge resort, which doesn’t seem to have
happened. It’s miles from anywhere
and it doesn’t promote Korea in a
positive way.” The resort has failed to
materialise; a victim, apparently, of the
global financial crisis.
Although the circuit is a challenge,
the Formula One community has
predictably failed to take to an event
in such a remote location, with
little of the required surrounding
infrastructure and so little apparent
local enthusiasm.
“I think the government of South
Korea, the minister of sport, ought
to be appalled because to have the
world’s media visiting your country
and talking primarily about the fact
they’re staying in brothels or that the
local population just don’t care about
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the race is the antithesis of what a
world class Formula One event should
be about,” Gallagher continues. “The
circuit’s not bad; it’s in the wrong
part of South Korea. We should be
racing in South Korea and Samsung
and Hyundai, LG and Kia, Korean
Air and Hanjin, all these great Korean
companies, ought to be 100 per cent
behind it, but I’m afraid the track
would have to be dragged all the way
back up to Seoul for that to happen.”
In 2012, for the third year running,
local promoters lost a significant sum
on the event – as much as UK£23
million, although that was a better
result than the first two years. “Just
because the loss was reduced… I am
not sure we can call this year’s race a
success,” was how one government
official put it.
The original promotional company
behind the race, a public/private
partnership called Korea Auto Valley
Operation (KAVO), was dissolved
in 2011 following the dismissal of
the original management team led
by Chung Young-Cho. A new team
led by Park Won-Hwa has taken over
control of the event and was able
to negotiate a change to its original
contract, which committed KAVO
to paying US$36 million in 2010
and the same again, plus a 10 per
cent escalator each year, until the
end of an initial seven-year contract,
with a five-year option. The revised
terms are believed to cut annual
KOREAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Korea International
Circuit, Yeongam
2013 date 4th-6th October
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2017
costs by as much as US$20 million
but the evidence of the 2012 results
suggests that the event is still proving
financially crippling to its organisers.
That the loss in 2012 came after the
event attracted a crowd of 103,000 on
race day, however, indicates there is
something fundamentally awry with
the business model in one of Formula
One’s newest territories.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 133

Japanese Grand Prix
Japan has been a fixture on the Formula
One calendar since the 1980s, with
Suzuka hosting the majority of races
during that period. The famous old
circuit, one of the very best in the entire
sport, returned to the calendar in 2009
after the Japanese Grand Prix spent
two years at the Fuji Speedway. In the
meantime, Suzuka set to work on a
multi-million dollar package of revisions
to facilities, notably a new pit complex
and main grandstand. Since the race’s
return that grandstand has been packed
to the rafters, with a big crowd rooting
for local hero Kamui Kobayashi.
He rewarded them in 2012 with an
emotional podium finish, although it
was not enough to keep his drive with
the Sauber team. His failure to secure
a 2013 seat may well be a problem for
local organisers of his home Grand
Prix; over the years the crowd in Japan
has fluctuated heavily based on the
level of local involvement. The same
is true of the corporate element of the
event, according to Mark Gallagher.
“Japan is a conundrum,” he says.
“Commercially it ought to be massive
and it only takes a Honda or a Toyota
or a Nissan to be in Formula One for
that to take place, but we’ve really seen
Japan catch a cold around Formula
One in the years since Honda and
Toyota pulled out.
“There was a time when Formula
One was huge in Japan,” Gallagher
continues. “The Senna era, then Leyton
House when Akira Akagi bought the
March Formula One team, Footwork
Arrows – there was a 15-year period
when Formula One just seemed to be
on fire in Japan and everyone seemed
to love it. I think Japan has had so
many problems and the sponsorship
marketplace has been difficult and
therefore it has lost some of its glory
from a commercial point of view.”
Nonetheless, from a Formula One
point of view Suzuka remains an
important venue, thanks in no small
part to its history as the location of
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
Location
Suzuka
2013 date 11th-13th October
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2013
several dramatic world championship
deciders and a passionate and highly
committed group of fans. “It’s a
fantastic event with amongst the best
fans in the world,” Gallagher says, “and
of course a superb venue.
“Just because of Japan’s importance
as a marketplace in the world, because
of the number of manufacturers
based in Japan – the likes of Sony
and the car companies – I think, longterm,
Formula One will have a role
to play there. It needs work to keep it
buzzing however.”
For his part, Jim Wright believes the
country is “very, very important” to the
sport, even if the location of Suzuka
itself does present challenges. “It’s a
strong economy and most international
companies would have representation
in Japan,” he says. “From a racing
point of view everyone loves it; from
a corporate hospitality point of view
it’s very poor given that it’s four hours
or so from Tokyo and two hours’
slog from Nagoya [airport], certainly
by road. It’s poor from that point of
view but it does have a very strong
following, it’s always sold out and for
that reason it has an appeal. That does
translate into corporate interest.”
When Formula One is not in town,
Suzuka can offer a regular diet of
national and regional events including
Formula Nippon and motorcycling
races. The venue, which is run by
the Mobilityland Corp, also includes
a motorsports entertainment centre
and the Motopia theme park, with
the ferris wheel adjacent to the
circuit’s start-finish line always
providing a memorable backdrop to
any on-track action.
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Like Spa-Francorchamps,
Suzuka is a track adored
by drivers and fans. The
Japanese Grand Prix
returned there in 2009
after a two-year move to
Fuji, to everyone’s delight.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 135

Indian Grand Prix
Built at a cost of US$400
million, the Buddh
International Circuit lies on
the outskirts of Delhi and is
truly a state of the art new
venue for the sport
Following the model most recently
adopted by Turkey, Korea and Abu
Dhabi, the Indian government
invested not only in a Formula One
race but in a permanent motorsport
facility developed specifically to host a
Grand Prix. The Buddh International
Circuit, which lies on the outer edge of
sprawling Delhi, was completed – just
– in time to host its first Formula One
race in October 2011. It is undeniably
impressive, even if the rush to get
everything finished meant there were
many rough edges in year one. In 2012,
everything was much more polished
and in line with the expectations
of the sport. While the circuit itself
is admirable, nowhere else on the
Formula One calendar is the contrast
between the glamour of Formula One
and the poverty which surrounds the
venue more acute.
The Buddh International Circuit
will ultimately form a major part of
a sports city created by the Jaypee
Group, the construction giant which
is behind the US$400 million venue
in the Greater Noida district. “It’s very
much part of Delhi,” says Jim Wright.
“In London terms it’s not in the West
End but would be in, say, Wembley,
but it’s an area of the city which is
rapidly developing and obviously
Jaypee Group were smart enough
to get all that land free and to build
that as an attraction for housing and
commercial development – and their
quid pro quo for that was they had to
build the roads.”
The event had an exceptional debut
in 2011, attracting a Sunday crowd
of some 94,000 for a race dominated
by Sebastian Vettel. Yet Vettel’s 2012
victory, coming in the midst of a tight
world championship battle, drew
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The Indian Grand Prix has
been run since 2011, with
both races so far won in
dominant fashion by world
champion Sebastian Vettel
and Red Bull Racing
only 61,000, a worrying sign that the
first-year novelty has worn off.
Mark Gallagher believes that India
now faces the same challenge as all of
Formula One’s new markets: turning
the excitement of the first few events
into a genuine fanbase and motorsport
culture. Key to that, he says, is driver
development on the basis that every
country needs a star to root for. “For
all the money that’s been spent on
the venue and the race, creating the
astonishing first event, someone needs
to take a small percentage of the money
that has been spent and spend it on
driver development in India,” Gallagher
argues. “India needs a superstar and if
India, like China, can find a superstar
driver who is driving for a top five
team, with the genuine potential to win
Grands Prix, they’ll be packed to the
rafters and the sport will really take off.
INDIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Buddh International
Circuit, Greater Noida
2013 date 25th-27th October
2013 title sponsor Airtel
Contract expires 2020
India has the potential to do that.
“It’s a huge country of car-mad
people; they love their sport, the
media there gets behind heroes very
quickly. There’s a danger, because it’s
a market that still doesn’t understand
Formula One very much, that they
look at Karun Chandhok and Narain
Karthikeyan and say, ‘They aren’t very
good,’ and don’t realise that Formula
One is all about getting the driver into
the right car. India and Formula One
needs to find an Indian star of the
future and that is achievable within
three to five years, but they need to get
on with it.”
Jim Wright, meanwhile, believes
the sport should be very excited about
the commercial possibilities India
offers. “There’s great potential in the
marketplace and it’s a marketplace
where everyone wants to go,” he says.
Wright adds that there are still some
organisational creases to be ironed
out. “They didn’t tell people who were
buying tickets when they should arrive
so in ignorance people were looking
to pitch up at 2.30pm or 2.45pm for
a 3pm start – of course there were
huge traffic jams and many people
didn’t get into the track,” he explains.
“Also, corporate hospitality is just
stupidly priced in comparison to what
is affordable in that marketplace, so I
think that should be looked at.”
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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The Yas Marina circuit in
Abu Dhabi probably marks
the high point of Formula
One facility design. Part of a
US$40 billion development,
the circuit now stages one
of the must-visit events of
any season.
Formula One probably peaked in terms
of race venue design with the Yas Marina
Circuit, one of the first elements of a
massive US$40 billion development of
manmade Yas Island and undoubtedly
the most technologically advanced and
spectacular Grand Prix venue of all.
Woven around a manmade port
and the visually stunning Yas Hotel,
the exterior of which changes colour
on demand and provides spectacular
imagery during a Grand Prix, the
circuit itself may not quite live up to
the surroundings, but Abu Dhabi has
undoubtedly made a statement with its
purpose-built Formula One venue.
“It’s a top three Formula One event
now along with Singapore and
Monaco in my opinion,” says Jim
Wright. Mark Gallagher adds: “It’s
a delightful event. Infrastructure is
perfect, the hotels are fantastic.”
Where once Yas Marina Circuit stood
alone on a deserted island, some 20
minutes or so from the heart of Abu
Dhabi, it is increasingly surrounded
by hotels, restaurants and other leisure
facilities such as the Yas Links golf
course. The Ferrari World theme park
has become a particularly distinctive
feature, sitting alongside the circuit.
The overall Yas Island project is a
fundamental part of Plan Abu Dhabi
2030, which was launched in 2007 by
the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council
as the strategy for the emirate to become
a hub for tourism and business.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, run at
5pm local time with the start taking
place at sunset and the end of the race
under floodlights, has been a major
corporate success. “It’s normally sold
out, very strong,” says Jim Wright.
“There’s great warmth towards the event
from the local community and business,
great awareness of the event because they
do a very good job of promoting it and
they’re also smart enough to combine
racing with entertainment.”
Mark Gallagher adds: “It’s a great
event to visit. The market itself is
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not a huge one but for international
companies who will have an EMEA
region, Abu Dhabi is a very appealing
event for that Middle East/Africa market
to bring people and to run consumer
marketing programmes.
“It really is a super event and it is the
reason, long-term, why Bahrain might
ultimately struggle. It’s always been
questionable whether the Gulf region
can sustain two events.”
While the circuit and event are
funded by the government as part of its
strategy to use Formula One to promote
Abu Dhabi, the man tasked with
running Yas Marina Circuit day to day
is Irishman Richard Cregan, a former
Toyota Formula One team manager
who has more than a little motorsport
knowledge to impart.
The circuit hosted its first Formula
One race in 2009 and, as well as the
Grand Prix, has become home to an
annual young drivers test and a variety of
other motorsport and community events.
Cregan, speaking in 2011, told SportsPro
magazine that now the 50,000-capacity
circuit has bedded in, day-to-day
maintenance is the challenge. “It’s a
permanent venue so it’s quite different to
a lot of Formula One circuits in the sense
that all the grandstands are permanent
and require a lot of maintenance,”
he said, “purely because of the harsh
ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
Location
Yas Marina Circuit,
Yas Island
2013 date 1st-3rd November
2013 title sponsor Etihad
Contract expires 2016
conditions of the environment: you have
high humidity in the summer and that
in itself means you have to have a lot of
maintenance. It’s a continuous process.
“The other thing that is happening is
our landscaping is maturing nicely. We
invest a lot of time and effort to make
sure it’s very, very presentable.”
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 141

United States Grand Prix
A challenging new circuit
and a town that offered
the warmest of welcomes
combined to make Formula
One’s first visit to the
United States since 2007 a
memorable success
Until November 2012, Formula One
had not been present in the United
States since the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway hosted its eighth and final
race in 2007. The return came at the
Circuit of the Americas (COTA), a
new venue on the outskirts of Austin,
Texas, purpose-built for the job. The
evidence of the first race suggests the
facility may provide Formula One’s best
chance yet of cracking the market it has
historically found trickiest of all.
The first US circuit built specifically
to host Formula One, the COTA
proved an instant hit for drivers, teams
and fans alike. Praise was equally warm
for the city of Austin in general.
The impressive final ticketing totals
saw 265,499 fans attend over the three
days of the meeting, with 65,360
on Friday, 82,710 for qualifying on
Saturday and an impressive 117,429
through the gates for the race. Circuit
chairman Bobby Epstein called it
a “remarkable experience”, while
UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
Location
Circuit of the Americas,
Austin
2013 date 15th-17th November
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2021
Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli got
in the spirit with a special touch for
the local crowd, handing branded
Stetsons to the top three finishers to
wear on the podium.
The task now for local organisers,
not to mention the sport in general,
is to take maximum advantage of
the momentum generated by the
inaugural race.
“The fact that the Circuit of the
Americas has come along
as a purpose-built venue at the same
time as Formula One has sold its TV
rights to NBC, with four of the races
shown on the main NBC channel,
could be important,” suggests Mark
Gallagher. The sport, though, has
hardly helped itself by scheduling the
2013 race on the same day as the final
Nascar race of the season, as it did
in 2012, and a college football game
involving the Texas Longhorns.
Nonetheless, Gallagher and Jim
Wright believe Austin may just be the
right location for the sport to tap into
potentially lucrative corporate support
from the US. “There are a great many
American companies who look at
Formula One,” Gallagher says, adding
that a proposed second US race on
the streets of New Jersey and against
the backdrop of Manhattan’s skyline,
slated for 2014, will help. “If Circuit
of the Americas is successful and if
New Jersey can get off the ground
those two events have a good chance of
success. What COTA has done is very
brave and it’s to be hoped and prayed
that this is the one that works because
we need to stop the inconsistency
144 l BLACK BOOK 2013

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
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Lewis Hamilton won the
inagural US Grand Prix at
the Circuit of the Americas
in 2012, an event which
attracted more than
a quarter of a million
spectators over three days
of Formula One in the United States
marketplace. Hopefully Austin will
really get behind it.”
Wright, meanwhile, believes a
change of philosophy is required by the
sport to make Formula One successful
in the USA. “It depends if Formula
One, like China, accepts that it has
a real job to do in that country and
it rolls its sleeves up and gets stuck
into going about presenting itself and
promoting itself,” he says. “I fear that,
like China, the arrogance of Formula
One will be that all we need to do is
rock up with the great Formula One,
and it will be a struggle. But if they
go about it in the right way there’s
huge potential there. I think certainly
some of the teams are aware of that.
If you look at what Red Bull do, for
example, they’ve gone out there, taken
the car, run it round the streets, done
a promotion with Infiniti, they’re
looking at it positively and working
hard. But why only them? What is the
central rights holder doing to promote
Formula One in America.”
The first Grand Prix in Austin was a
comprehensive success; the potentially
difficult second year awaits.
146 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Brazilian Grand Prix
There are few more vibrant
or atmospheric Grand Prix
venues than Interlagos,
which lies in the centre of
São Paulo. The circuit has
now established itself as the
location for Formula One’s
season finale.
150 l BLACK BOOK 2013

2Circuits
Circuits
Brazil has a big few years ahead in
sporting terms but one of its oldest
international events is its Formula One
race. Interlagos, deep in the heart of
sprawling São Paulo, has been the host
of the country’s Grand Prix every year
since 1990, and before that for much
of the 1970s. The Jacarepaguá circuit
in Rio de Janeiro, which staged the
Grand Prix in 1978 and between 1981
and 1989, is incidentally now being
converted into Rio’s Olympic Park
ahead of the 2016 Games.
Interlagos is one of the sport’s most
historic venues and has produced some
of its most dramatic races, few more
so than the conclusion to the 2012
world championship between Sebastian
Vettel and Fernando Alonso in greasy
conditions last November. A passionate
Brazilian crowd creates an atmosphere
more akin to a soccer stadium than a
Formula One circuit; the race tends to
either sell out or get close, such is the
home support for local drivers – from
Ayrton Senna to Rubens Barrichello and
now Felipe Massa.
By modern-day Formula One
standards, facilities are basic at best;
the circuit is cramped into the city,
making significant revisions difficult.
JimWright, though, believes they
stand up against other venues in the
country. “People talk about the facilities
in comparison with other Formula
One races,” he says, “but I think
for a Brazilian facility it’s perfectly
acceptable. I’ve had the fortune to go
to some of the huge football stadiums
there and by comparison it’s perfectly
adequate, there’s no problem at all.
“I think the biggest problems there
are the fact it’s crammed into a very
small land mass and things like car
parking and access are poor.”
Formula One’s popularity in Brazil
– as well as hosting a race the country
represents one of the sport’s largest
television markets – makes the Grand
Prix each November an attractive
proposition for the corporate sector, even
BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX
Location
Interlagos, São Paulo
2013 date 22nd-24th November
2013 title sponsor None
Contract expires 2015
if Wright believes pricing is an issue. “It
is very, very high for that marketplace,”
he says with particular regards to
corporate hospitality prices, which
unlike most Grands Prix are not totally
controlled by Formula One’s central
management and are partly set by the
local promoters. “I think that does put
people off. But corporately, you do see
some very big brands there. It seems to
be sold out or nearly sold out every year
and it’s very important strategically for
Formula One to be in Brazil.”
Mark Gallagher, too, is a fan. “It’s a
fabulous market,” he says. “São Paulo
is a vibrant city and the circuit of
course is delightful as a race circuit. The
infrastructure from a corporate guest
point of view, for what I would call the
international corporate guest, is not as
good as we’ve come to expect at other
venues. It needs further upgrades. I
think for the Latin American market
it’s good, but I do think it needs some
investment to take it on to the next
level. [Formula One’s] presence and
commercial relevance in São Paulo and
Brazil is just so strong that Brazil ought
to have a very bright future.”
That bright future will require a
contract extension at the end of the
2015 season, a process which will
be handled by the São Paulo city
government and Tamas Rohonyi,
the Hungarian businessman whose
International Promotions company
runs the Grand Prix locally. Unusually,
International Promotions has historically
retained a portion of the trackside
sponsorship and hospitality rights which
are, in all but a few cases, gobbled up by
Formula One’s central management.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 151

Section Three
Statistics and Insights
Statistics: 154
3
Official Data Partner:

Winning the data race
Nigel Geach, Senior Vice President,
Motorsport, Repucom
With approximately 485 million fans
around the world, Formula One attracts,
excites and engages the public like
few other sports platforms. Last year,
a cumulated global audience of over
two billion tuned in to live broadcasts,
repeats and highlights of the action as a
thrilling title contest went down to the
wire. Despite having one fewer race,
2013 promises to be just as compelling.
New consumption trends – such
as the shift towards pay TV and the
rapid growth of mobile – have brought
new challenges, but these need not
be feared as they also represent a
substantial opportunity. In terms of
the broadcasting trends, live audiences
have slipped slightly but this impact
has been absorbed by the increasing
audience for highlights. The in-depth
coverage available to the avid fan
on pay TV has, meanwhile, made
Formula One’s audience even more
focused. This in turn allows brands
present in the series to engage with a
traditionally hard-to-reach, sought-after
demographic in a deeper and more
meaningful way than ever.
Without doubt, the fallout of the
economic crisis has hit Formula One,
as it has every other form of sport and
entertainment reliant upon investment
from advertising. The smaller teams
have had an especially difficult time.
But I think we are now starting to
see some light at the end of this
particular tunnel. While a couple of
brands have dropped out, many very
high-profile sponsors are entering the
scene and are keen to make a serious
commitment. Prime examples include
the new partnership between Burn
[the energy drinks brand from Coca-
Cola] and Lotus, the arrival of Ferrari’s
first sponsor from China, Weichai
Power, BlackBerry’s engagement with
Mercedes and, of course, the entrance
of Rolex and Emirates as series
partners. All of these engagements
speak volumes for the quality and sheer
power of the platform.
Our observations show brands are
not reluctant to engage in Formula One
but that, in today’s environment, they
require comprehensive evidence that
their investment is paying off, or that it
will. Effective valuation, measurement
and monitoring of brand engagement
remain critical for teams and sponsors
alike. The days of the ‘chairman’s
choice’ or ‘gut instinct’ sponsorship
engagement may be coming to an end
but it is clear Formula One – and the
opportunity to reach its completely
unique and highly coveted audience –
is as attractive as ever.
Formula One owes its resilience to
its audience, but who is the Formula
One fan in 2013? The latest wave of
global market research by Repucom
shows us he is getting younger, at an
average age of 39. And yes, despite
increasing female interest in the series
in recent years, he is still male, with
men making up 70 per cent of the
most devoted fan segment.
The avid Formula One enthusiast
has spending power, with 19 per
cent coming from the top surveyed
income group in their respective
country, a whopping nine points
above the population average. He is
also extremely loyal to those brands
engaged in his sport, with more than
six out of ten stating they would
choose a sponsor’s product over a
rival if price and quality were equal.
The Formula One fan is also an early
adopter of new technology, another
key parameter for many of the brands
that invest in the series.
As far as development of this
audience in 2013 is concerned, again
it is a story of opportunities and
challenges. The complications lie in
Asia where a switch away from freeto-air
TV in Japan, with no driver or
manufacturer from that market, could
prove a problem. China’s dependence
on CCTV 5 is also not ideal. Equally,
however, the return of a genuine
championship contender from the
motorsport hotbed of Latin America,
with McLaren’s appointment of Sergio
Pérez, is an extremely positive sign
for the series in terms of amplifying
its presence one of the world’s
economically booming regions. The
NBC deal in the USA could also be
extremely relevant as Formula One
seeks to build on the success of last
year’s Grand Prix in Austin.
Exposure to this audience may be the
most important motivating factor for
the majority of brands that invest in the
series, but it is only one of many. B2B
benefits, on-site marketing and image
aspects continue to be highly relevant.
Ultimately, it is about achieving
maximum return on investment, or
on other pre-defined objectives. At
Repucom, we use industry-leading
research, knowledge and experience
to narrow the margin of error in our
clients’ decision-making process.
We provide the insights to give your
marketing activities in Formula One
the competitive edge.
154 l BLACK BOOK 2013

3Statistics and Insights
Statistics and Insights
Official Data Partner:
USA 9%
Spain
35%
Russia
19%
Japan
10%
Italy
25%
Germany
24%
Brazil
18%
AVID FORMULA ONE
INTEREST IN
SELECTED MARKETS
China
11%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
McLAREN ANATOMY OF THE AVID FORMULA ONE FAN
Source: REPUCOM SportsDNA 2012
Basis: Representative, stratified survey of 1,000 16-69 year olds in selected key global markets
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 155

WORDS ‘BEST’ DESCRIBING FORMULA ONE
Honest
Competitive
Exciting
Traditional
Hi-tech
Fan focused
Courageous
Stylish
Passionate
Inspirational
Always
delivers
Innovative
Modern
Prestigious
WORDS ‘BEST’ DESCRIBING FORMULA ONE SPONSORS
Approachable
Caring
Market
leaders
Cutting edge
Premium
Trustworthy
Modern
Attainable
Reliable
Traditional
Desirable
Innovative
Stylish
Customer
focused
156 l BLACK BOOK 2013

3Statistics and Insights
Statistics and Insights
Official Data Partner:
Despite the proliferation
of races in new markets
across the globe,
traditional Formula
One heartlands like
Germany, Spain and Italy
provide huge chunks of
the sport’s worldwide
television audience
McLAREN Audiences
Region
Share of cumulated live broadcast audience globally
Europe 69.0%
Africa & Middle East 4.1%
Asia-Pacific 6.6%
North America 1.7%
Central & South America 18.6%
McLAREN Top 10 F1 TV markets for all official broadcast formats 2012
Country
Percentage of total cumulated audience
Germany 14.9%
Brazil 10.9%
Spain 10.1%
Italy 10.0%
France 8.7%
UK 7.3%
China 3.0%
Austria 2.6%
South Korea 1.8%
Hungary 1.7%
Other 28.9%
Source: REPUCOM SportsDNA 2012
Basis: Representative, stratified survey of 1,000
16-69 year olds in selected key global markets
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 157

Sebastian Vettel (centre)
and Red Bull Racing
celebrated a ‘triple-double’
in 2012 - winning the
drivers’ and constructors’
championships for the
third year in a row
2012 Drivers’ World Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel 281
2 Fernando Alonso 278
3 Kimi Raikkonen 207
4 Lewis Hamilton 190
5 Jenson Button 188
6 Mark Webber 179
7 Felipa Massa 122
8 Romain Grosjean 96
9 Nico Rosberg 93
10 Sergio Perez 66
11 Nico Hülkenberg 63
12 Kamui Kobayashi 60
13 Michael Schumacher 49
14 Paul di Resta 46
15 Pastor Maldonado 45
16 Bruno Senna 31
17 Jean-Eric Vergne 16
18 Daniel Ricciardo 10
19 Vitaly Petrov 0
20 Timo Glock 0
21 Charles Pic 0
22 Heikki Kovalainen 0
23 Jerome d’Ambrosio 0
24 Narain Karthikeyan 0
25 Pedro de la Rosa 0
158 l BLACK BOOK 2013

3Statistics and Insights
Statistics and Insights
Official Data Partner:
2012 Constructors’ World Championship
1 Red Bull Racing-Renault 460
2 Ferrari 400
3 McLaren-Mercedes 378
4 Mercedes 303
5 Sauber-Ferrari 126
6 Sahara Force India-Mercedes 109
7 Williams-Renault 76
8 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26
9 Caterham-Renault 0
10 Marussia-Cosworth 0
2012 Average Qualifying Position
1 Lewis Hamilton 4.3
2 Sebastian Vettel 5.05
3 Mark Webber 5.85
4 Fernando Alonso 6.1
5 Jenson Button 6.45
6 Kimi Raikkonen 7.45
7 Romain Grosjean 7.74
8 Nico Rosberg 9.4
9 Michael Schumacher 9.65
10 Felipe Massa 9.85
11 Pastor Maldonado 10.85
12 Paul di Resta 11.45
12 Nico Hulkenberg 11.45
14 Kamui Kobayashi 11.6
15 Sergio Perez 12.2
16 Bruno Senna 14.25
17 Daniel Ricciardo 14.7
18 Jerome D’Ambrosio 15
19 Jean-Eric Vergne 18.5
20 Heikki Kovalainen 19
21 Vitaly Petrov 20.42
22 Timo Glock 21.4
23 Pedro de la Rosa 21.89
24 Narain Karthikeyan 23.16
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 159

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Section Five
Luxury
5
Introduction: 282
Amber Lounge: 292
Gallery 2012: 300
New York: 306

The perfect mix
With its combination
of exotic locations and
high-speed, high-stakes
action, Formula One has
long attracted a glamorous
following - something
brands have been keen
to tap into since its
commercial age dawned
Formula One’s reputation for glitz
and glamour is long established – few
other pursuits have the same mix of
incredible locations, money, celebrity,
technology, sex, danger and opulence.
Seasoned Formula One business and
lifestyle expert Richard Partridge off ers
his personal take on the allure that has
helped build an empire.
Is there a single sport on the planet
that encompasses the sheer glamour
of the world of Formula One? Nascar
makes a bid but is limited by its
very insular nature. The very highest
echelons of football undoubtedly
flicker with glamour but the light
doesn’t always burn brightly and it’s
still the case that few other sports
retain the smell of power, testosterone,
sex and money that are now
282 l BLACK BOOK 2013

5Luxury
Luxury
synonymous with Formula One
It is an image that has been
carefully constructed over the years
but one that is now central to the
very nature of the sport – so much
so that the glitz and glamour that
Hollywood takes for granted has
become embedded in the Formula
One brand. It has elevated the sport
from the sports pages and transformed
it into a lifestyle, glamour and fashion
experience that is absolutely unique in
modern culture.
This is now a world that seduces
otherwise sane and successful captains
of industry to invest their hard-earned
millions in a further attempt to
promote their companies and brands
and, moreover, assuage their otherwise
insatiable egos. It’s a world that attracts
the technologically gifted with the
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 283

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Mercedes driver Lewis
Hamilton follows the best
traditions of Formula One
on the track, while off it he
leads an outsized lifestyle
complete with a private jet
and, in Nicole Scherzinger,
a popstar girlfriend
promise of unlimited investments,
so they can develop cutting-edge
solutions, and a world that attracts a
circus of sponsors, investors, celebrities
– all of whom feel the need to be at
the heart of a sport that has become a
byword for both celebrity and glamour.
No sport has developed the brand
equity of both technology and
glamour like Formula One and it’s a
powerful and peerless combination
for advertisers and sponsors – an
environment where their brands and
products feed off the feel-good factor
and can then reinvent themselves in
the mind’s eye of the consumer.
Perhaps it’s the element of danger
and risk that attracts the great and
good. Maybe it’s something at the
very heart of the human condition
that draws us to watch our champions
risk their lives in pursuit of riches and
glory. Let’s face it: risk-taking is sexy
and Darwinists and psychologists
would argue that positive evolution
depends on it; as well as this, risk
begets danger and danger attracts us
like moths to a flame.
Formula One has maintained this
position at the high table of sport
and culture from its early days in the
1950s, when Monte Carlo’s Grand Prix
coincided with the annual Cannes Film
Festival. Hollywood and Formula One
then began their enduring relationship;
drivers and film stars mixed business
with pleasure in front of the world’s
press, against a backdrop of sunshine
and ostentation. The world had never
seen the like before.
Their antics on and off the track
fuelled the sport’s reputation and gave
Hollywood and celebrity the perfect
environment to parade and promote
themselves. And, if anything, the
power of this relationship continues
to grow unabated, for we now live
in an increasingly celebrity-obsessed
world. It is a recipe that all Formula
One teams now use: take a celebrity
(preferably a fresh one), mix with
286 l BLACK BOOK 2013

However far the Formula
One series spreads across
the world, no event quite
typifies its appeal like
the Monaco Grand Prix in
Monte Carlo
sponsors, pour in a little champagne,
add your Formula One driver, mix well
and throw in a few photographers. It’s
guaranteed to work every time.
If you bring along a star to the grid
then the world wants to know about it
– and if you stick them in front of your
car and sponsors then they’ll get their
photo taken: Bingo!
Despite the creeping corporate
sanitisation of the sport the glitz and
glamour lives on through the likes
of Lewis Hamilton, whose daring
move to Mercedes will either be a
masterstroke or condemn him to the
also-rans this season. What we can be
sure of with Lewis is a nerve-jangling
rollercoaster ride along the way from a
driver who is prepared to take the sort
of risks that would have the ghosts of
Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve
smiling. He is a man who embodies
the true spirit of the sport.
And when he’s finished racing
there’s always his celebrity girlfriend
Nicole Scherzinger to soothe his
fettered brow. However, as both are
global jetsetters, Lewis has to make a
real effort to maintain the relationship
during the season: it’s no Skype-based
liaison, though, for Hamilton has
purchased a new, bright red UK£20
million Bombardier CL-600 private
288 l BLACK BOOK 2013

5Luxury
Luxury
Formula One
Management chief
executive Bernie
Ecclestone both lives
and nurtures the luxury
lifestyle that pervades
the higher echelons of
the sport
jet to “ease the strain” of his
relationship. Even with a new,
lucrative, contract to his name this is
a big spend – but one that captures
the essence of Formula One and the
fascination of the global audience.
Indeed, the world of corporate
aviation sits cosily alongside Formula
One with a number of drivers
either owning their own plane or
maintaining close relationships with
a manufacturer; Rubens Barrichello
was a shoo-in as an ambassador for
the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer,
Felipe Massa flies around in his
Piaggio Aero and Mr Ecclestone’s
schedule necessitates the use of a
Falcon 7X to transport him around
the globe.
The sport’s new partnership with
Rolex, which begins this season, is
further evidence that Formula One is
in no danger of losing its reputation as
the global showcase for glamour.
Nonetheless, there are pretenders
waiting in the wings should the sport
ever lose the elements of excitement
and risk that have defined it for so
long; those that run the sport in the
coming years would be well served to
never forget where the sport came from
and what it stands for if they want to
ensure its future.
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 289

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Lights, Amber, Action
Since its launch at the
Monaco Grand Prix in 2003,
Amber Lounge has become
established as one of the
leading promoters of postrace
events in Formula One
It is now ten years since Sonia
Irvine held the first Amber Lounge
event in Monaco over the 2003 race
weekend. Since then Amber Lounge
has become the go-to venue, at a
cherry-picked selection of Formula
One’s most prized locations around
the world, for drivers, teams, sponsors,
executives and celebrities. Fine dining
and top DJs, unlimited alcohol, and
hand-picked venues, designed to be
both discreet and spectacular, have
combined to turn Amber Lounge
into one of Formula One’s premier
luxury brands.
Irvine began her career in Formula
One in the 1990s as physiotherapist
to her brother, the Jordan, Ferrari and
Jaguar driver Eddie. Her move into
delivering top-level luxury hospitality
events began around the Monaco
Grand Prix, but Amber Lounge has
since expanded to Singapore, home
of Formula One’s first night race; Abu
Dhabi, where a combination of desert
and chilled-out waterfront has proved
highly popular; and, in 2013, Austin,
Texas. In an exclusive conversation with
the Black Book, Irvine reflects on the
development of Amber Lounge, the
hospitality industry in Formula One
and why the sport continues to appeal
to sponsors and celebrities.
Sonia, can you believe it’s been
ten years?
We were looking at photographs from
2003 and back then we thought, jeez,
we did a good job, and then you look
at the photographs and you think,
my goodness, we’ve come on so much
in the space of ten years in what we
provide, in our production and how we
make things look now. We’ve evolved
and the brand’s gone from strength to
strength. Whereas it was me and one
other person when I started it, now I’ve
got a team of 14 around me and we
all have our own specific jobs. Things
obviously have got better and we pay
more attention to detail, really. When
I started it there was only one event
and now we do four– we’ve now got
Singapore, Abu Dhabi and then Austin
is the new one to us this year. We go
out there four or five times before the
event to make sure everything will
work, the selling and everything.
In what other ways have the
brand and business evolved?
Everything’s in-house because I’m
sort of a control freak. We’ve brought
marketing in-house and when you do
things like that you just wonder how
you ever did it before, when it was
out-of-house. We’re more responsive
now, so if sponsors come on board
and want to change logos in a certain
way on their branding we can do
that very, very quickly. We now have
a sponsorship department which we
never had before. We’ve a PR person,
which I never had before. Everything’s
just got more complicated, but for the
right reasons really.
292 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Each event aims to provide
the kind of hospitality for
which the sport is famous
and, with performances like
that of Taio Cruz in Monaco
in 2011 (below), the best
after-hours fun the sport
has to offer
What was the initial motivation,
the gap in the market that you
spotted, back in 2003?
When I was a physiotherapist for my
brother in Formula One we’d finish
the season in Brazil and we would all
be driving around looking for a party
– and we couldn’t find one. In those
days, Ferrari had their own party and
McLaren did their own and I suppose
there was more money around in those
days as well so sponsors would pay for
parties. But there was nowhere where
we could all come together. It was very
separate. Formula One is a big family
and we travel around the world, every
two weeks you meet up somewhere
else but there was nowhere where we
all just came together. It was then
that the seeds were sown. I was lucky
enough in that when I left working
for my brother, I continued working
in Formula One and did sponsorship
stuff. I worked across all of the teams
and with different drivers, so I didn’t
just become known as Sonia, Eddie
Irvine’s sister – I was doing my own
thing in Formula One. They knew
I was a hard worker and they knew
I would deliver and I wouldn’t say
things I couldn’t deliver, so there was a
trust that built up – and I think partly
people felt sorry for me because they
knew how hard I worked with my
brother! They wanted to support me.
What did you learn from that very
first event?
We knew we had to sell tables and
we thought initially when I sold all
the tables that the club would be full.
Then you realise after the first night
that, actually, if there aren’t people on
standing passes the club doesn’t look
full. The pass system then evolved.
When I started doing it, nowhere did
people really do bottles on the tables
– it was a very unusual system to run.
I didn’t have a background in bars or
clubs, my background was in physio
and management, and I didn’t see how
you could trust people with money
crossing hands.
The other thing is there is always an
awkward point at the end of the night:
who pays the bill? It’s so awkward, so
the idea was that people wouldn’t be in
that position: they paid their amount
and then they drank as much as they
wanted. I’ve always wanted them to
drink as much as they want – it’s not
that I turn to my waiters and say,
“Hold off on the alcohol,” or, “Don’t
serve them so quickly,” because I want
people to have a fantastic time. I want
them to leave Amber Lounge thinking
it was the best party they’ve ever had
and wanting to go back the next
year. That was something I learned.
There had to be people in on standing
passes, unlimited alcohol. One lesson
I learned early on: we had a client who
bought a lot of tables for one night in
Amber Lounge and then they pulled
out at the last minute – and it was
really make or break for me. I swore to
myself that I would never put myself
in that position again, where I’d be
reliant on one client. That forced me
to go out and expand who we sold to,
so that if one sponsor dropped out
it didn’t matter because there’s other
sponsors or individuals.
294 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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5Luxury
Luxury
The first year I did Amber Lounge
I was so lucky that teams and drivers
supported me. Ron Dennis bought
passes for all his engineers and
mechanics to come and celebrate. I was
really lucky to have the support I was
given in Formula One, I couldn’t have
done it without that.
Who are your main clientele?
Amber Lounge parties
attract Formula One
insiders as well as
celebrities like Kim
Kardashian (above), who
attended the Monaco
event in 2012, and the
Minogue sisters, Kylie
(left) and Dannii (right),
who were at Abu Dhabi
Nights are different, very different.
Saturday nights tend to be a lot of
sponsors and team people. That’s
good because there’s high-end people
there: CEOs, CFOs. There’s a lot of
networking and business that goes on
in Amber Lounge. The other thing I
do that’s different is our table set-up.
If we have a big group on Saturday
night – 250 people – we put a lot of
thought into how we’re going to do
the table set-up, so that they can mix
and mingle. If you’ve a client who has
a group of 40 in there we give them
the space – my furniture’s not fixed,
so I can create for them their own
space, but when they want to go to the
dancefloor or bar they can. Ultimately
they have their own space to do the
business they want to do. In life a lot of
business is done outside the office and
not necessarily inside the office. Sunday
night in Monaco, for example, is 50:50.
There are sponsors and 50 per cent
local people in there.
I’ve always tried to keep Amber
Lounge quite neutral and be careful of
what sponsors we bring on board so
that we don’t isolate teams or drivers.
It’s quite political in that way, but I’ve
been doing Formula One now for 18-
odd years and I love the world that we
work in. Bernie’s created this amazing
world. You often find a lot of people
leave Formula One because they’re
tired of travelling and there’s too much
stress, and then they invariably come
back because they love the travelling
and they love the stress and the fact
that when you want something you
do it straight away. It’s a very
responsive world.
You’ve expanded now into Singapore
and Abu Dhabi – I guess the venues
all have their own characteristics?
I love the Monaco race. We have an
Amber Lounge boat, for example, and
whenever you come into the harbour
on a tender and go to the boat, the
atmosphere always brings a tingle to
my body – it does. But, for example,
a lot of the drivers love Singapore and
that’s because we stay on European
time – in other words they’re going
out partying and it’s 8pm and they
party at 6am, but in reality it’s only
midnight. They have so much more
energy because we’re not on Singapore
time. Then you have the people who
love the set-up we have in Abu Dhabi,
because we build on the water and it’s
a very relaxed atmosphere. We’ve got
a lot of tables outside on the terrace,
so they prefer that side. We try and
cater for people’s wants – apart from
Singapore where you can’t have tables
outside we try and give people a
choice; do they want a table on the
dancefloor, or a table in the corner?
Kimi [Raikkonen] sent me a text
after he won in Abu Dhabi and said,
“I need another table.” No stress,
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 297

Amber Lounge founder
Sonia Irvine (below right)
and her team are able
to cater to the individual
needs of guests like Lotus
driver Kimi Raikkonen
(below left) at each event
I’d already increased his table. He
said, “Where’s my table?” And I said,
“Think of the worst table I have in the
house, Kimi, and that’s where I’ve put
you – in the corner where no one can
see you.” He said, “Perfect,” because
that’s where he likes to be and I know
that. Everybody likes different things.
If clients come and say they want a
different menu, or this or that, we try
and cater for it. We don’t say, “No.”
We say, “Let’s see if we can.”
You’re doing Austin this year –
what do you make of it?
I went to have a look last year, because
I wasn’t convinced about it, truth be
told. I was gearing myself up to do New
York – we had the venue and everything
organised. And then it didn’t happen.
So I went to Austin, because I do
think Amber Lounge should go to the
States. It was a fantastic race. I wasn’t
that impressed with what was there
nightlife-wise. People were saying they
were a VIP experience, that they were an
Amber Lounge, when Amber Lounge
wasn’t there. I came back and said, “This
would be a good event for us.” I had so
many drivers and people who said they’d
buy tables. It was quite nice being there
not doing it the first year, because I’ve
always tended to do things the first year.
It made people realise Amber Lounge is
good and we deliver what we say we’re
going to deliver. The hard thing about
Texas has been finding the venue where
we can run until 4am, but we have that
one resolved. We will be a private party
there and once we arrive there you will
not be able to buy tickets to Amber
Lounge, we will be sold out. We will do
a smaller event this year; we’ll be sold
out before we reach Texas.
How do you assess the current luxury
hospitality market in Formula One?
I can only talk for me and Amber
Lounge: I honestly don’t know any
other sport that’s like Formula One,
that reacts like Formula One, that
has the hospitality to the level that
we have it and that gives the coverage
to the sponsors. At the end of the
day there’s only 22 drivers and it is
exclusive. Bernie Ecclestone is a very
clever man and he’s made a sport
that people aspire to; it’s difficult for
sponsors to get into the paddock, etc.
2008, I think, was a great year for
everybody – teams, sponsors – and
then we obviously had the [financial]
crash. 2009 was hard but I threw
more staff at stuff and employed more
people, because my view was if people
have got money I want them to be
spending it in Amber Lounge and
knowing about Amber Lounge. I made
sure the staff I had were as good as I
could get them – each year for us has
just got better and better and if you
look at the sponsors signed in Formula
One for this year – Burn, BlackBerry,
all of these global brands coming into
Formula One – there must be a reason
for it. The good thing is when they
come into Formula One, that’s great
for Amber Lounge.
For more information on Amber
Lounge events in 2013 visit
www.amber-lounge.com
298 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Racing through the port of Valencia
Fans in Spain get a look at the European Grand Prix
Waiting for Felipe Massa in Korea
Fireworks mark the end of another Singapore Grand Prix
A big Texas welcome in 2012
Tamara Ecclestone steps out in Monaco
Former Ferrari idol Eddie Irvine
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr and Star Wars creator George Lucas
Prince Albert of Monaco with his wife, Princess Charlene
F1 2013 Gallery
On the road again
Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel were champions again in the most global Formula One
season yet, with Austin, Texas the latest stop for the United States Grand Prix. As ever, there
were plenty of famous faces to spot along the way.
300 l BLACK BOOK 2013

The Tifosi out in force again at Monza
Jessica Michibata and Jenson Button in Belgium
The spectacular Yas Marina hotel in Abu Dhabi
Canada was a popular stop once more
The legendary Michael Schumacher bade farewell again
Superstar actor Will Smith in Monte Carlo
Fabiana Flosi and partner Bernie Ecclestone
It was another picture perfect year for Red Bull Racing
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 301

The grid girls get ready for the Italian Grand Prix
A winning return for Kimi Raikkonen in Abu Dhabi
Midnight in Paris stars Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody in Malaysia
Rock star Lenny Kravitz exchanges opinions with Hamilton
Lining up for the United States Grand Prix
A new McLaren in Singapore for Lewis Hamilton
Formula One from 65 floors at Singapore’s Swissotel The Stamford
Pre-race entertainment on the Silverstone grid
F1 2013 Gallery
302 l BLACK BOOK 2013

Lewis Hamilton enjoys his win at the Circuit of the Americas
Actress Vanessa Hudgens
Mark Webber off duty in South Korea
Excitement builds for Formula One’s Austin debut
Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo with a gift for Bernie Ecclestone
Singer Katy Perry’s concerts are quieter affairs
Rush director Ron Howard
Daniel Ricciardo cruises through the Valencia streets in his Toro Rosso
BLACK BOOK 2013 l 303

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New horizons in New York
Sebastian Vettel took a
drive around New Jersey’s
proposed Grand Prix street
circuit in a road car last
year, and while the first race
there has been postponed
until 2014 the prospect
continues to excite the
Formula One community
Formula One could hardly have asked
for a better return to the United States.
The inaugural Grand Prix at the Circuit
of the Americas (COTA), a purposebuilt
facility on the fringes of lively
Austin, was a huge success in its first
year. Texas, however, is not the limit
of the sport’s ambition in what has
traditionally been one of the markets it
has found trickiest to crack.
In October 2011 New Jersey
politicians announced that a Grand
Prix would take place on a street
course, against the backdrop of
Manhattan’s skyline, on the banks
of the River Hudson. “These races
will showcase Weehawken and West
New York as well as our state and
region to an international audience,
while strengthening both the local
and regional economies,” said New
Jersey governor Chris Christie as the
event was announced. “This is another
example of how New Jersey remains
a leader in hosting marquee national
and international events like the
Super Bowl, NCAA men’s basketball
tournament and the Ironman triathlon
in various parts of our state.”
Although the race had been pencilled
in for a 2013 debut it will now not
take place until at least 2014, with
local delays in obtaining the necessary
permissions for the street circuit
blamed. However, there is a great will
to make the event a reality in 2014,
when a June date has been selected,
given the myriad commercial and
marketing opportunities staging a race
in the world’s largest media market
presents. “I think New York would be
massive,” says Sonia Irvine, the founder
of Amber Lounge, Formula One’s go-to
post-race events company.
“The teams were looking forward to
going there, the drivers were looking
forward to going there. The track was
fantastic, the view was great. There’s a
lot of work being put into New York
happening and I think it’d be such a
shame if it didn’t happen. The thing
with Formula One is it’s an expensive
event to put on and run, so there’s a
lot of things to be worked out on that
side. The promoters were very positive,
they wanted to bring Formula One to
Jersey, to New York and a lot of people
were interested.”
A 3.2-mile road course has been
selected to host the Grand Prix and
some 100,000 people would be
expected to attend. The event will be
privately financed, with no subsidies
from either local or state government.
The driving forces behind the race are
Leo Hindery, the founding chairman
and former chief executive of regional
sports network YES, and Humpy
Wheeler, a former president and general
manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Should the contractual and
logistical details be ironed out, the
event promises much: in 2012 world
champion Sebastian Vettel drove laps
of the proposed circuit in an Infiniti
road car and was enthused by the
prospect of returning with his Formula
One machine. “The circuit is great,”
the German said. “One section is a
bit like Montreal with a long fast
straight but it’s also quite up and
down, which is a bit like Spa. New
York is such a great city with a great
energy. It will be great to have a
Formula One race here – I think there
will be some good bars to go to after
the race!”
306 l BLACK BOOK 2013

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Monaco Singapore Abu Dhabi Austin
24/25/26 May 21/22 September 1/3 November 15/16/17 November
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
AMBER LOUNGE
THE ULTIMATE VIP GRAND PRIX
EXPERIENCE 2013
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