I see people are still talking about pay drivers and how they're bad for the sport, and I think that many have forgotten or simply don't know that the most popular, iconic drivers - drivers who shaped this sport - started as pay drivers.
Schumacher (7 time wdc), Lauda (3 time wdc), Fangio (5 time wdc), all started as pay drivers who got to F1 through loans and sponsorships by banks or even their government (Fangio was backed by the President of Argentina). Even Senna (3 time wdc) got to F1 thanks to a sponsorship by Banco Nacional. At the beginning of his career, Alonso (2 time wdc) was sponsored by Briatore and that got him an F1 seat with Minardi. The same can be said for Webber, even though he's said some pretty negative things about pay drivers...
When Alonso joined Ferrari, Santander - a Spanish bank - sponsored both him and the team; now that Sainz is with Ferrari, Santander is once again sponsoring the team (I'm not saying in these instances they were/are pay drivers, just that big sponsorships have always been part of the sport). Perez started his F1 career as a pay driver as well.
If, when you hear the words "pay driver", you automatically think "they bought their F1 seat and took it from someone more talented", you need to look into it more closely.
There's a big difference between getting to F1 because your sponsors see your talent and potential, and decide to invest money in you, and getting to F1 because of your family's money.
No matter how their careers in the minor leagues were, we all know that Stroll, Latifi and Mazepin got to (and two of them stayed in) F1 mainly because of their family's money.
Zhou Guanyu, on the other hand, is sponsored by the Chinese government (like Fangio was by his own government). I don't know whether his family is very rich or not, but his F1 seat doesn't come from them.
I've seen some pretty terrible, mean and racist comments directed at him, so let me get this straight: Zhou could turn out to have the richest family in the world and be the worst driver on the grid and that would still not be a justification.
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to be honest, when it comes to pay drivers*, most of them tend to not be in the top teams anyways so like. as long as they score points (which the majority bar the one whose name i refuse to speak from 2021), why should we be mad? they technically fit the requirements (placing top 5 of the feeder series, and yes, this includes the one from 2021), so there's a reason why the f1 teams were like 'okay, i'll put you onto my team'
also, they're the ones providing the most 'entertainment' to fans, since redbull dominance featured one driver fucking off 20 seconds ahead of everyone else while the other top drivers would occasionally shuffle around in placement order, where else can you get spicy track battles and a roulette on who crashes out?
*term used loosely. what do we expect from a rich man's sport?
un_limited_power on reddit has very kindly done some research, using many resources on the Chinese web, about Zhou Guanyu’s family background and familial wealth.
I recommend you all click on the link and check it out. It’s still not entirely clear exactly how much money his family has (ascertaining the wealth of very wealthy people is never an easy task anyway), but the user thinks that Guanyu’s family is pretty rich but not ridiculously so (compare to Mazepin).
Underpinning the level of performance is the ability to spend, probably moreso today than in previous years given the sums involved. Several years ago, I asked the boss of one of Britain’s most successful junior team’s just how much a season in one of his Formula 3 cars would cost and he bluntly replied, “How fast do you want to go?”
Alas, some have more money than others; others have more money than everyone and those with the most disposable income often use it to easily dispose of the obstacles others fight hard against.
Whether the amount spent extends to influencing the personnel that work with drivers is another question entirely, but many teams will have first engineers, second engineers, third engineers (and so on) and these structures flow through various aspects of each company.
Anyone who tells you that a championship is even and fair because all the cars are the same is either a liar, a fool or a salesperson.
- “Is Nikita Mazepin Good Enough for F1? Well, That’s Complicated…” [x]
Fans- “Sauber should get rid of Marcus and hire some other more talented driver.”
So...Sauber has so much less money than the other teams that it is AMAZING when they make points. (Making points is the way a team traditionally gets more income from Grand Prix(which means Grand Prize) Racing.)
Marcus Ericsson is willing to forgo a salary and pay for some of the parts and labor of the team with his own money.
Who is going to pay for the cars to go, if Marcus leaves?
His sponsors aren’t going to keep paying for his teammate’s car if Marcus doesn’t drive.
How will the economics will work out, when the team stops getting an income and instead has to start PAYING a driver?
“You get millions of euros less to spend on the cars and you also have to take a lot of money out of the remaining budget to give to this kid, here. He will still not be able to win or get you in the points so that you may earn money that way, but that will be fine“
“What do you mean you can't pay for enough mechanics and parts to make the cars run, as it is, and millions of euros less will make it so you can't have a team at all?”
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A while back I got curious as to what money each driver (and potential) was bringing and where from and here is what I found out for those who don't already know. I also understand that Alonso probably brings the most sponsorship of the current grid with Santander but yeah, not really paying for the seat :p (I saw this to be worth around E40M or somewhere in that region but yeah I assume I don't need to explain why he isn't a pay driver xD)
Also here I am chucking in people like Sutil who money no doubt had some influence on them getting the seat but isn't necessarily considered a pay driver as well as some people who missed out.
From what I understand is that typically a driver who brings money takes their wage from that rather than the team itself which is why Grosjean hasn't complained of unpaid wages whereas Kimi has; Grosjean is paid by Total rather than Lotus.
(Understand this was original written before the 2012 teams wear fully signed up so I have chopped and changed it a lot. It is not exhaustive and in reality a lot of it is speculation (with basis) as F1 teams don't exactly wave their check books around)
Pastor Maldonado - £30M - PDVSA
Probably the most on the grid, all funded by the Venezuelan Sporting fund (they sponsor many Venezuelans in different sports including IndyCar), which itself is funded by the oil money with support from the late Hugo Chavez. Theres actually a invoice of this knocking around although I'm inclined to believe its not real but you never know. There was talk of whether they want to continue sponsoring such a big pay packet but I assume they decided to considering he signed with Lotus.
Gutierrez - ?
High estimates probably in the region of 15-25M Telmex - Whether this is still a thing is unknown and I doubt Sauber would turn it down if it was. They don't seem to be supporting Perez at anyrate.
Perez - Total unknown, Claro £5M
There's talk of him bring sponsorship again in contention with a seat at Force India. I assume this will include the £5M Claro brought to McLaren this year although that was the only sponsorship that followed him to McLaren which probably had something to do with his hire (and sacking), McLaren are £50M down when Vodafone leave.
Giedo van der Garde - £10-20M from McGregor
Again one I saw different figures for here. Interestingly I read he was offered a seat at Marussia for £7M but opted to pay £10M and go with Caterham instead. I've also heard it was 10M for the seat and another 10M for the decals on the car.
Adrian Sutil - E6M from Medion and Caprisun
Not considered a pay driver but does bring a little enticing cash to a team I guess.
Charles Pic - £10M from Renault
I imagine he has some kind of tie in with the Renault engines which is why he was placed in Caterham this season despite (presumably) having enough to remain at Marussia for the 2013 season. (They were said to want £7M for a seat, Caterham wanted £10M although they turned out to be the "worse" of the two)
Jules Bianchi
Ties to Ferrari engines and I've seen a rumoured E5M whether this is the same source or how much Ferrari are charging less for engines.
Nico Hulkenberg - Dekra sponsorship
Although worth very little (in F1 terms, I wouldn't turn my nose at it!) they have followed him through the teams.
Daniel Ricciardo - Quantas
Recently started sponsoring him previous to getting the Red Bull seat although I doubt this has anything to do with it and might be a more personal sponsorship (he does appearances for them or something although if they appear somewhere on the car next year you know why! :p)
Romain Grosjean - E10M Total
The 2nd of the big French sponsors who wanted their French drivers on the grid.
Felipe Massa - ?
Being the only Brazilian driver on the grid means that he is apparently able to drum up some sponsorship for next season, likely picking up companies what Senna or Razia might have brought. A big one is said to be Petrobras although this relied him on going to a team without a Petrol/Oil sponsor already (Ferrari - Shell, Red Bull - Total, Lotus - Total (and now PDVSA) Mercedes - Petronas, McLaren - Mobil)
Max Chilton - £10M
This comes from his father and his ties to Aon being on the board of the company.
Paul Di Resta
A quick check of his website shows he doesn't have many sponsors behind him, Whyte and Mackay Scotch Whisky and Aberdeen Asset Management and W&M is owned by United Breweries (ie Vijay Malyas company) so I assume he will lose that if he lost the SFI seat. There is talk of an IndyCar drive which is interesting as in the past, with Rubens Barrichello, sponsorship of around $2-3M was needed to race. I assume his ties Dario Franchitti, his cousin, are what will be giving him bartering power.
Other F1 sponsorships
I thought since I started this last year before the seasons started and I have had to chop a lot out that I'd add a little but more stuff in about general sponsorships so here are whats considered the biggest sponsorships in F1 (in euros :s)
Phillip Morris (Marlboro) E60M - They still sponsor Ferrari (or did until recently but I haven't heard they stopped) despite the name not being on the car. The white barcode on the car was their thing after tobacco advertising got banned.
Vodafone E50M - Leaving the sport for next year but provided big sponsorship at McLaren and before that Ferrari
Santander E40M - The brand Alonso now takes with him, first to McLaren then to Ferrari. I guess in theory this is only worth 15M (which is a steal when you consider how much car space they have) when you consider Alonsos supposed 25M salary.
Petronas E40M - The largest oil company sponsorship in the sport although they are also a title sponsor too. Others are PDVSA (£30M so E36), Mobil E20M, Shell at E15M and then Total paying 12.5M each for the IRBR and Lotus cars.
Otherwise than oil companies you then have Infiniti bring E20M which seems low for a title sponsor (although in reality RBR are the works Renault so therefore partly works Infiniti team) and Blackberry at E15M, which seems really daft for a company thats nearly out of business.
Although, you have to consider Red Bull as sponsorship too although they are team owners so they probably make up any gap in finances that the team has and also United Breweries which make up a large part of the Force India cars sponsorship although again are kind of the team owners. I guess the fact they haven't sold the car space which Red Bull would be almost certainly able to do means they should be considered as sponsors.
