Word: racing
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...Read: "A Race-Car Designer's Shift to Greener Rides...
...caught with documents supplied by a rogue Ferrari employee. Then, last September, one of F1's most flamboyant team managers, Renault's Flavio Briatore, was barred from the sport for life after the FIA determined that he had ordered one of his drivers to crash in a 2008 race to help out Renault's other driver - Alonso, in this case. Briatore is still fighting the ban. (In January, a French court overturned it; the FIA is appealing that decision.) "At times it felt like the whole thing was imploding," says former F1 driver Mark Blundell, now owner of 2MB Sports...
...reason for the meltdown is money. Unlike most other motor sports, F1 is as much a battle between engineers as it is a race between drivers. Spurred on by a space-race mentality, F1 teams were research-and-developing themselves into oblivion. "The cost was growing beyond the point where you could have one or two teams," says McLaren's Whitmarsh...
...teams aren't the only ones who can't make ends meet. The promoters behind F1's 19 races have seen their fees for hosting an event double to almost $30 million in the past five years - $45 million for newer races in Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Korea. As a result, they've jacked up prices for the best seats over a race weekend to an average of $722, a rise of 50% from three years ago. Average three-day attendance fell from 187,724 in 2008 to 161, 613 in 2009. "In Bahrain, all you could...
...terms of F1 economics, however - and this is especially true for the newest hosts - it doesn't matter if none of F1's race promoters comes close to covering costs. The shortfall is increasingly paid for by governments who view television coverage as a giant TV commercial for their city or country. Singapore hosts a spectacular nighttime race on city streets beneath twinkling lights. In 2008, its first year, the race took in $51 million, but cost $100 million, according to Formula Money. That's O.K. with Singapore. The government kicked in $60 million, leaving the local promoter with...