RECESSION: WHAT’S THAT?? JUST ‘F’1 IT.

CHAMPAGNE MOMENTS 

The race for The2011 F1 championship crown is over. Sebastian Vettel, the 24 year old German brushed aside the likes of Alonso, Schumacher and Hamilton to become the youngest double F1 champ.  Apart from the records to brag of “Baby Schumi” is also the possessor of some notorious ones.  He was quickest driver to get a penalty barely 9 seconds into his first F1 race in ’08. I doubt if anybody will be interested in taking this way from him.

I WANT SOME TOO!!

The world is in tatters over the next recession knocking on the doors. But does recession affects F1? Considering that 

it’s the hottest selling sport in the world, I doubt that it does.

The total budget of 10 teams in 2010 was close to $ 4,000 million!!! Yes I got the figures right. Wow, this would have made it one of the richest countries in Africa or may be Latin America. (Wanted to say Pakistan for the audiences, but can’t as I want to remain apolitical).  By the way it doesn’t include teams of Karun Chandok and Kartikeyan, as they hardly exist.

Toyota is the clear winner in terms of budget with close to $600 million in their kitty. Though in terms of winning races and points there is still a long way to go for them as they partner the underdogs on the circuit, rather the laggards. Ferrari is considered the cult, at least during the schumi era. But they also had to pump in $ 2 million to capture a single point in 2008. Only Indian, I can think of who can afford this is Bappi Da. Imagine how much can be done if the money is utilised for welfare. There is no use of imagining, as this would have been gulped down by khadi ‘Angels’

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I PIPPED YOU HERE TOO

There is a huge buzz about the salary packages of elite institutions. The drivers at F1 are one of the richest people. Now that Vettel is the champ, he must be the highest earner. But that’s not true. The grand old daddy of F1, Michael Schumacher is still the highest paid, even though he’s not setting the track on fire. He takes home $ 34 million, not to count the countless bonuses. Next comes Alonso with $24 million and Hamilton with $22 million. Now take that IIMs. But Vettel still has some catching up to do at $6 million. Schumi took home $1.8 million for every race and poor Jenson Button sulks on just $800,000. No wonder he had to sell his Bugatti Veyron. It will be interesting to note that the salary of Indian drivers is equal to their points that is zero.

The grid gals don’t come cheap either. Especially when they are handpicked by the owners like Vijay Mallya. They go for millions of dollars too. Most of the team owners are in their mid and late 60’s. That’s hard labour. Viagra anybody!!!!