Will RBR stop F1 wins when Consructors title secure?

[John S]

New entry fees means too many extra points costs big.       

According to Chris Smith, writing on Forbes.com, the Bulls may well be tempted to turn the wick down once the championship is in the bag. It would seem foolish in pure financial terms to do anything else, surely????

Even more importantly, once the championship is clinched, then Red Bull ought to strive to score as few points as possible. The reason why is because FIA’s recently implemented entry fee changes make dominant success a particularly expensive endeavour. According to the new rules, the first-place team must pay a $500,000 base fee plus $6,000 per championship point. In other words, the more demonstrative the success, the more it will cost the team.

To put the new fees into context, consider the last two F1 seasons. In 2012, Red Bull won with 460 points and a 60-point lead on Ferrari. Had the current entry fee system been in place then, the finish would have cost Red Bull $3.3 million with some $350,000 in extra spending for its points cushion. In 2011, however, the team won with 650 points and a massive 153-point lead. That means the season would have cost Red Bull $4.4 million with nearly $1 million coming just from the huge lead over second-place McLaren.

F1 is already among the most expensive sports in the world, so the last thing Red Bull – which also owns a second F1 team – needs to do is spend more just for winning by more than it needed to. With a fourth straight title all but assured at this point, it simply makes no sense to give Webber the traction control technology, even if it might be the most revolutionary development in the sport’s recent history.

Extract from a longer article by Chris Smith (Why Won't Red Bull Racing Share Its Secret Technology With Mark Webber?), Forbes.com, Wed 9th Oct.

[Scott]

    I can see it now... 'Seb, we need to finish out of the points, so will you please just toodle around at 10sec back for the next 10 laps?'

So will Seb take one for the team or will he be eyeing more records and total points for himself?  Honestly, in the scheme of things a team like RBR probably profits more on the exposure a win gets them than the million or so it might cost them to win to the end.

[vintly]

Nothing would look more lame than RBR trying to save a few quid - won't happen - they'll try and win the remaining races.

[cosworth151]

So the team slows Seb down, then Mark passed him, goes for the win & costs RBR $150,000 (25 x $6,000). Sounds lovely!      

How about this: take the money collected from the high scoring teams & divide it amongst the back markers!

[Jericoke]

If RBR just lets the drivers have at each other, I'm sure that Vettel will crash them both out.  Problem solved. 

[lkjohnson1950]

 

[F1fanaticBD]

 

[Irisado]

They'll try to win all the races.  The prestige for the team would just be too much not to win races.

[Jericoke]

They'll try to win all the races.  The prestige for the team would just be too much not to win races.

I have to say, they'd get plenty of press if they ran the race in first & second, and then stopped 20 feet short of the finish line in order to let someone else take the points and their share of Bernie's fee.

[Scott]

They'll try to win all the races.  The prestige for the team would just be too much not to win races.

I have to say, they'd get plenty of press if they ran the race in first & second, and then stopped 20 feet short of the finish line in order to let someone else take the points and their share of Bernie's fee.

But the press would be many times more positive if they sat out Q and started Vettel from the back.

[Jericoke]

They'll try to win all the races.  The prestige for the team would just be too much not to win races.

I have to say, they'd get plenty of press if they ran the race in first & second, and then stopped 20 feet short of the finish line in order to let someone else take the points and their share of Bernie's fee.

But the press would be many times more positive if they sat out Q and started Vettel from the back.

I'd love to see that!

[Irisado]

I have to say, they'd get plenty of press if they ran the race in first & second, and then stopped 20 feet short of the finish line in order to let someone else take the points and their share of Bernie's fee.

More likely if they tried to engineer a dead heat ā la Schumacher at Indianapolis in 2002 .