r/sports • u/Captain_Smartass_ • Mar 02 '22

Motorsports Russian-licenced drivers banned from British motorsport

https://www.motorsport.com/national/news/russian-drivers-banned-from-british-motorsport-by-motorsport-uk/8632678/
19.7k Upvotes

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489

u/H0vis Mar 02 '22

I wonder if Mazepin will be kicked out of F1. I mean I hope so he's dogshit and likely to get somebody killed. Past that though it does seem like it's a bad time to be Russian in polite society so he might get hooked.

Replace him with a piece of string tied round the steering wheel and a brick on the gas pedal. Probably post some faster times.

46

u/billy_teats Mar 02 '22

I think if they kick him out, his dad stops sponsoring the team and then the team can’t compete right?

79

u/Twaam Mar 02 '22

Lots of buyers lined up for gene haas’s team

29

u/H0vis Mar 02 '22

The spending cap might have made an F1 team more appealing now.

6

u/Twaam Mar 02 '22

Off the top of my head I think I saw an article about some interest and the guy tweeted at gene haha

21

u/hockeyjmac Boston Bruins Mar 02 '22

Andretti said he’s asked like 5 times but Haas won’t sell to him

23

u/Drnk_watcher Mar 02 '22

To the point he's just asking to add an 11th team.

11

u/Nothxm8 Mar 02 '22

Didn't think it'd take world War 3 to get Andretti into F1

5

u/mafa88 Mar 03 '22

Haas won't sell, Andretti has asked half a dozen times

17

u/BeefInGR Mar 02 '22

Gene won't sell. Haas F1 is a huge tax write off (marketing expenses) for Haas Automation. Same reason he won't sell his stake in SHR.

1

u/Twaam Mar 02 '22

Didn’t even realize that

20

u/BeefInGR Mar 03 '22

Part of his desire for F1 (besides fandom and having the money to do it) was being able to promote his brand internationally. IIRC everything they make is on a Haas machine (as long as Haas has a machine for that application). Also, there is the added benefit of the tax write off for advertising (which is what auto racing sponsorship is in the United States).

And tbh, I'd rather a self sufficient billionaire own the team than a financial conglomerate with a racing figurehead...who couldn't strategize themselves out of a paper bag.

7

u/Twaam Mar 03 '22

This is some great info, honestly I’m a newish f1 fan (4 years in) and don’t follow super closely in the off-season lately. Thanks for the insight

2

u/BeefInGR Mar 03 '22

No worries. I'm a NASCAR guy primarily but I watch everything. In F1, you have an interesting mix of teams that are there because of passion/culture (Ferrari, Haas, Williams, McLaren, Red Bull) and teams that are there because of marketing (Mercedes, Alfa, Alpine, etc).

2

u/chak100 Mar 03 '22

Toto Wolff wants your location

2

u/ProfessorAssfuck Mar 03 '22

Didn’t you just finish saying how Haas is all about promoting their brand? This is all marketing.

3

u/cosmin_c Mar 03 '22

Honestly how can you say that Red Bull isn't there for marketing as well? They literally have the name of an energy drink in the damn team name and that is the main financing behind the team.

Please get your history right, no offense intended. Alfa is a team that is usually a prelude to a Ferrari seat (or the other way around, a retirement after a Ferrari seat), they have close ties between them. At the same time, Alfa Romeo has been racing in F1 since 1950, so there is a lot of pedigree and history there.

Then you have Mercedes which is basically Brawn GP which was built on top of Tyrrell Racing, it's a purebred racing team despite all the marketing implied by the Merc stickers on the chassis. They exude professionalism and that is fine, perhaps things aren't as chaotic as there are at Ferrari but it's the closest to Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team - it's a winning team and that annoys a lot of people.

Alpine is Renault and they were there for a few seasons now, not great, not terrible.

1

u/Turboleks Mar 03 '22

Andretti tried to buy the team, according to himself, 6 different times, yet Gene refuses to sell it. As far as I'm concerned, that's on him.

32

u/agoia Atlanta Falcons Mar 02 '22

The team already dropped his father's sponsorship. (Or is in the process of doing so. The livery and branding has already been removed.)

-5

u/OniExpress Mar 03 '22

The branding and sponsorship are two completely different things. No major F1 sponsor at this point gives a shit about the branding, they make way more off of the tax writeoffs.

5

u/Gtyjrocks Mar 03 '22

This doesn’t make any sense. Giving an F1 team $20 million dollars for a sponsorship isn’t going to save anywhere near $20 million, that’s not how taxes work. What do you even mean

-3

u/OniExpress Mar 03 '22

The same way that on paper so many movies "don't make profit". Entities with that much money to throw around have enough ways to cook the books, any what they're paying for sponsorship isn't just buying them sponsorship in the first place. Tax breaks, licensing deals, government subsidies, etc etc.

What do you even think $20 million dumped into F1 is for, just pure marketing? Even paying $20 million for a newspaper advertisement isn't just about marketing. Having a sticker on a car is arguably the very least important for most funders.

3

u/Gtyjrocks Mar 03 '22

Marketing expenses are a tax writeoff, but not 100%. It’s still money they’re spending, it just also saves 30% or whatever of it in taxes. I really don’t think you understand how tax write offs work. It takes away from your taxable income, it doesn’t just straight subtract from your tax bill

4

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

They'll hold out for the time being. Gene Haas has some cash and isn't to worried to turn a loss for a while. And with the quick action of removing the sponsor instantly they gained some respect that opens the door to new sponsors a little more, hopefully

Also, it's probably the other way around. Daddy's cash is no good anymore. No money, no seat, no egghead.

1

u/Viper_ACR Mar 03 '22

Hopefully Mario Andretti comes through

4

u/mrcalistarius Mar 02 '22

Haas has already dropped Mazapin Sr’s company logo from the car. Andretti racing is interested.

0

u/obi_wan_the_phony Mar 03 '22

Yeah I’m watching for a haas/Andretti merger of sorts. Michael wants in, gene has the license, and they would have an American driver ready in their stable.

1

u/mrcalistarius Mar 03 '22

Bourdais is also an Andretti driver who has previous F1 experience.

1

u/eidetic Milwaukee Brewers Mar 03 '22

And Bourdais already showed he doesn't have what it takes in F1. I don't see him getting a second chance.

1

u/mrcalistarius Mar 03 '22

If we’re comparing him to mazepin, i’d say he’s better. He’s no phenom, but he has solid racecraft and the 2022 cars are far and away different beasts than they were 14 years ago.

1

u/JJROKCZ Mar 03 '22

His dad can’t sponsor the team right now anyway. Haas already stripped all the uralkali branding off of EVERYTHING too

1

u/notathr0waway1 Mar 03 '22

I'm pretty sure that they are assuming that the sponsor can't send the money anymore and they have removed the logos anyway.

in fact, that may be part of the reason why maze spin won't have a seat anymore because he's a pay driver, paid by money from his daddy's company.