Word: sports
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the year. In just his second season in Formula One, 23-year-old Briton Lewis Hamilton became its youngest ever world champion, sensationally grabbing fifth place on the last corner of the Interlagos track in São Paulo to claim motor sport's premier prize by a single point from hometown hero and Ferrari star Felipe Massa. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was less fortunate. Fisichella, 35, and in his thirteenth year in Formula One, was the last driver to finish, and ended the season without a single point...
...separating drivers: money. McLaren, for which Hamilton drives, lavished an estimated $430 million on its campaign, according to industry analysts Formula Money - a sum typical of big teams but two to three times the outlay of independent teams such as Fisichella's Force India. In such a high-tech sport, those with the deepest pockets tend to end up on top. (Read "How to Win a NASCAR Race...
...organizers' efforts to make racing more competitive. The current setup, with big teams depending on "massive handouts from their parent companies" and small independent teams relying on "the goodwill of rich individuals," is "unsustainable," according to a memo given to teams in October by the FIA, world motor sport's governing body. The FIA's answer: Slash the cost of competing...
...rules allow for up to 12 teams, with each running two cars. But escalating budgets have forced smaller teams to quit in recent years. When U.K.-based Super Aguri pulled out last May, it left just 10 teams on the grid. If more quit, the FIA worries, the sport could cease to be credible. "All teams realize that losing another [team] would do great damage to Formula One overall," says a leading adviser to several teams and manufacturers. Says Christian Horner, team principal at Red Bull Racing, an independent team whose best-placed driver finished 11th in this year...
...from major carmakers. BMW, for instance, contributed an estimated $200 million to its team this year, nearly six times the sum invested by Indian Vijay Mallya, the billionaire owner of Fisichella's Force India. Small teams struggle to make up the difference through sponsorship or their share of the sport's commercial rights...