Archive for September, 2009
Korea and Canada on FIA’s F1 2010 calendar
Sep 22nd
Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has released the calendar for the 2010 world championship. The addition of the Korean Grand Prix, and a return to Canada (subject to race contract), will make for a 19-round season – two more than in 2009. The Bahrain Grand Prix will kick off proceedings on March 14, followed by the Australian race two weeks later. The Malaysian and Chinese races will take place in April, with the Sepang event getting underway an hour earlier than this year, with a revised start time of 1600 hours local time.
In May, the championship heads to Europe for rounds in Spain, Monaco and Turkey, before the teams make their way to Canada for the first time since 2008, subject to the completion of contractual negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed, then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to June 6.
Following the completion of the European season, the teams will fly out to Asia in late September for back-to-back races in Singapore and Japan, followed by the inaugural Korean Grand Prix. Abu Dhabi will be the penultimate round, with the championship finale returning to its familiar home of Brazil in mid November.
2010 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar
14 March – Bahrain
28 March – Australia
4 April – Malaysia
18 April – China
9 May – Spain
23 May – Monaco
30 May – Turkey
13 June – Canada*
27 June – Europe (Valencia)
11 July – Great Britain
25 July – Germany
1 August – Hungary
29 August – Belgium
12 September – Italy
26 September – Singapore
3 October – Japan
17 October – Korea
31 October – Abu Dhabi
14 November – Brazil
*Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to 6 June.
Note: The race in Australia will start at 1700 local time, in Malaysia at 1600 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Abu Dhabi at 1700 local time.
F1 – what goes around comes around!
Sep 16th
Team Lotus will be back in Formula One next season – and the Norfolk man draughted in is Mike Gascoyne, ex Toyota, Jordan and Tyrrell designer. Malaysian entrepreneur and new team principal Tony Fernandes is involved in the project – something which brought with it backing from the Malaysian government and a consortium of investors from the country.”It is different from what Lotus was, obviously, as the company is now owned by Proton and this is very much a Malaysian backed initiative. But that backing is exciting and great for Formula One, and to tie that in with the heritage of Lotus has a very nice synergy.” said Gascoyne.
Lotus F1 will initially be set up in the RTN centre at Hingham, a 50,000 square foot facility most recently used by Bentley for its Le Mans programme. Works will eventually move to Lotus’ new operations base at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. Sponsorship announcements are anticipated and driver line-up is due to be revealed next month.
Lotus F1, based in Norfolk joins Manor Motorsport, based in Buckinghamshire, as two of the four new teams in Formula One in 2010 boosting the motorsport industry in the UK. The other teams are from the USA, Team US F1, and Campos from Spain – more good news is the return of Cosworth as an engine supplier. BMW Sauber also has a new owner having been sold to Swiss-based Qadbak Investments.
It seems the auto manufacturers are pulling out gradually as teams – leaving more independant teams to fill the F1 grid… isn’t this how it used to be?? What goes around comes around!
Motorsport sponsorship declines in 09… tell us something we didn’t know!
Sep 3rd
One For The Record Books: Motorsports Sponsorship To Decline In ‘09… but its how the spend is spent that will make all the difference. Sponsorship is entering a new age… just because the fans have octane in their veins doesn’t necessarily mean it’s relevant any longer.
North American-based companies will spend an estimated $3.3 billion to sponsor motorsports teams, tracks and sanctioning bodies this year, a nearly six percent decline from the $3.5 billion spent in ‘08, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report.
The projected decline is a first since IEG SR began tracking motorsports spending in 1985. As automakers and other sponsors look for ways to reduce spending, the big-ticket prices associated with major racing sponsorships have become harder to justify, and many companies have backed away from previous levels of commitment.
The projected spending amount reflects both reductions in spending and elimination of programs from previous sponsors such as Domino’s Pizza, Kodak and others, but also some new sponsor dollars that have served to prevent the decline from being even more severe.
Looking at some of the positive activity: Search engine Ask.com this year will launch a multi-faceted NASCAR program that includes a tie to the sanctioning body and title of a Hall of Fame Racing Sprint Cup Series entry driven by Bobby Labonte. In addition, Mars North America signed a multiyear extension with NASCAR spanning four categories: chocolate, chocolate bar, cheese-filled snack and pet food.
www.sponsorship.com