Does Richard Branson understand F1?

[Graz]

It's a rhetorical question really. He's making some very odd statements about winning the championship and beating the high budget teams on talent alone. He said he's done it with Brawn so is now looking to do it again with Virgin. I think he's also somewhat overstatig his involvement with Brawn - judging by the size of the stickers on the car, he clearly wasn't giving them much.

I also read that he said that he's delighted to be supporting Manor/Virgin as they are the only British Team left...so for example, McLaren & Williams are not British then no?

He's a very successful guy but if he truly believes what he's saying, he's in for a massive nasty surprise.

If I've misread his comments, feel free to correct me!

[Fox89]

You have a point.

"It will run under the £40 million a year that is set in F1, and all teams within two or three years are meant to get to that level."

Is it just me or was the £40 Million a year thing scrapped?

EDIT: It was just me, thanks Marbot

"I think it is the only British F1 team left - so it is great to support another British team."

Who hold the majority of shares in McLaren and Williams? If they're groups from Dubai or something he could maybe make that argument, though I think 99% of the world would judge a "British" team by different criteria.

"We think it is abhorrent to be spending $400 million on building two cars. We believe it is important not to compete with the chequebook but to compete with the ingenuity that we have with Nick [Wirth], and the team spirit and experience we have with John [Booth].

I respect this. And I will continue to respect this when they're finishing each race in the bottom 6. Optimism is great and they have two good drivers, Glock especially, but association with Virgin didn't make Brawn great last year. It was the Brackley team and the hundreds of millions invested by Honda the year before.

Full Article

[jab]

I recall plenty of sneers towards Red Bull when they first arrived for their "different" way of going about things, and a lot of people didn't think they were committed. They finished 2nd in the championship last year. Virgin are a step beyond that as they are a company which largely thrives off PR. Take a look at the team's new website - it's slick, refined and original. I have a feeling Virgin will trump Red Bull in the PR stakes next year. As for the important stuff, the on track action, they may have to wait a few years yet, but in Manor they have a team that has plenty of experience in the junior formulae and they know how to win. For me, they have the most potential out of all the new teams

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Fox89

Is it just me or was the £40 Million a year thing scrapped?

The original Mosley idea of 40 mil and a two tier system have been scrapped, but over the next couple of years the teams have agreed to get overall F1 spending down to early 90s levels, which is around 40 mil. So Branson has actually got a head start on some of the 'richer' teams, who may struggle to reduce their resource structuring to the new levels.

[kartracer41]

Richard Branson is a successful salesman and businessman. He's going to sell himself big.

[strider]

James Allen is not the ultimate authority on these things, but he was impressed by the launch and argues the case well. Link.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by Marbot

The original Mosley idea of 40 mil and a two tier system have been scrapped, but over the next couple of years the teams have agreed to get overall F1 spending down to early 90s levels, which is around 40 mil. So Branson has actually got a head start on some of the 'richer' teams, who may struggle to reduce their resource structuring to the new levels.

If his team doesn't go 'pop' in the meantime because they're tooling around at the back!! In F1, agreeing to do something in 2 or 3 years is very dubious. In F1 the 'I'll believe it when I see it' mantra is king.

[Fox89]

Branson also made it clear that he is very keen to attract women drivers into the sport and said that the team would be launching an accessible young driver programme aimed at attracting children from families without significant resources. It all sounds quite idealistic, but Branson said he was in the business of making the impossible possible

I like this. If they actually go through and do all the stuff they're saying they want to do then I'll be very impressed!

[foreversideways]

Yes this is typical Richard Branson. I suspect Brawn were looking for way to much money and i also suspect he is paying Manor much less than you imagine. His endeavours are always launched with massive bravado and his many failures are quietly swept under the carpet, Virgin Cosmetics being the most recent. I suspect he imagines that he was in some way responsible for the Brawn success, conveniently forgetting that they had a full budget from Honda. It will be interesting to see how he feels about Virgin Racing propping up the back of the grid. I expect to see the Virgin name associated with this team for no longer than the 2010 season.

[Teretonga]

Does richard Branson Understand F1?

In ten months the question may be "Does F1 understand Richard Branson.....?

He will have a completely different perspective and has in mind his goals, not the establishment's goals. Branson will use F1 for his purposes and if he is successful in achieving those goals then F1 will change, considerably, on the commercial side.

[Marbot]

hmmm..... could Branson be the new Ecclestone? A scary thought.

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by Marbot

hmmm..... could Branson be the new Ecclestone? A scary thought.

Worse things could happen. While Branson is by no means perfect he is at least a million times more ethical than Bernie in his business dealings as well as having the vision to build for the future, something Bernie must have had once but seems to have lost in favour of maximising short term profit.

Having said that I think the reality is that Branson is not interested in F1 beyond using it to promote the Virgin brand.

[jab]

Originally Posted by fourWheelDrift

Having said that I think the reality is that Branson is not interested in F1 beyond using it to promote the Virgin brand.

But isn't that the same for the majority of the companies involved in F1?

[MichaelH]

Have always - long before his involvement in F1 - thought Branson was a smug, irritating, self-congratulating, image obsessed plonker. A very successful one, sure. Kind of like a real-life Ian Beale and almost as punchable. As soon as he started nosing around Brawn it turned into the 'Branson show', with the BBC fawning over how 'everything he touches turns to gold' even though his involvement in the grand scheme of things was minimal, and ofcourse everywhere you turned there was his smug face screaming LOOK AT ME, RICHARD BRANSON IS WINNING AT F1 before he ****ed off and changed his mind. Struck me he messed Brawn around big time and I was quite glad to see the back of him from my TV screen.

Manor/Virgin have potential. But this season however they try to slant it they're gonna be at or near the back and it takes time and more crucially understanding of how F1 works to make a success of the sport. Interesting.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fourWheelDrift

Having said that I think the reality is that Branson is not interested in F1 beyond using it to promote the Virgin brand.

He may not be interested right now.

[foreversideways]

Originally Posted by fourWheelDrift

Worse things could happen. While Branson is by no means perfect he is at least a million times more ethical than Bernie in his business dealings as well as having the vision to build for the future, something Bernie must have had once but seems to have lost in favour of maximising short term profit.

Having said that I think the reality is that Branson is not interested in F1 beyond using it to promote the Virgin brand.

hahah a million times more ethical than Bernie, read the books about him.

[ivanalesi]

If what they say happen, then it will be good for F1. It means it can be affordable and good investment.
I read one of his books and I don't consider it time well spent. He's going at ventures w/o much thinking, just instinct and actually only 2-3 were truly successful with which he grew his wealth. Also none of his ventures are the top player in their fields. He's got lots of failures and he's not exactly admitting to them, I mean Virgin Cola - come on...
He's a good salesman to some people, the kind who talks a lot and shows lots of confidence and if you get excited, he sells to you, otherwise ...
The guy was shouting to Coke and Pepsi on a tank how he would conquer them at Times Square... it would certainly be fun!

[ukaskew]

Originally Posted by Graz

I think he's also somewhat overstatig his involvement with Brawn - judging by the size of the stickers on the car, he clearly wasn't giving them much.

He's giving Manor/Virgin a lot less, financially anyhow. I think he sees his involvement as a lot deeper than just hard cash, attaching the Virgin brand automatically opens a lot of doors (like it or not, they are probably one of the top 20 brands in the world), so it's harder to put a true value on his input.

Success will be making a profit from F1, they are the first team that actually look like it might be possible. Performance on the track will - hopefully - come from being very clever from an engineering perspective.

So I think, as others have said - does F1 understand Branson? If he pulls this off within a couple of years (i.e. even get half way up the grid), it could massively accelerate cost-cutting in F1 if it's shown to be viable.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by ukaskew

So I think, as others have said - does F1 understand Branson? If he pulls this off within a couple of years (i.e. even get half way up the grid), it could massively accelerate cost-cutting in F1 if it's shown to be viable.

The resource restriction agreement will ensure that all of the teams come down to Virgins level of budget in the next couple of years anyway.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by MichaelH

Have always - long before his involvement in F1 - thought Branson was a smug, irritating, self-congratulating, image obsessed plonker.

Napoleon Bonaparte always used to prefer to use lucky generals, rather than particularly skilled ones and I'm sure Branson himself would admit he has been very lucky in his life and business career, his last minute input into Brawn being the most recent example.

He had his first break with Tubular Bells I remember, Mike Oldfield's instrumental album in the early seventies. No other record company would touch it but it became Virgin Record's first release and made millions.

Ironically it was recorded at .......Manor Studios. I wonder whether this is an omen or whether just like Napoleon's Generals his luck might run out this time.

Whatever you think of him, boring he's not and this is going to be a very interesting venture.

[kartracer41]

Originally Posted by Marbot

The resource restriction agreement will ensure that all of the teams come down to Virgins level of budget in the next couple of years anyway.

Like what others have said though, that "agreement" could be thrown out in five minutes time.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by kartracer41

Like what others have said though, that "agreement" could be thrown out in five minutes time.

People agree with anything when they want to get rid of something annoying and then...

[Yannick]

Is it called a Virgin because it hasn't seen a wind tunnel?

Nick Wirth's CDF-only concept is daring, to say the least. It may have worked for sportscars, but these are formula cars.

Just look at how the very aero-dependent Toyotas failed at Monaco this year: they locked out the back row when a few races prior to that, at the aero-heavy Bahrain circuit, they had locked out the front row.

Virgin Manor might experience similar differences in performance unless they have made their mechanical homework, too.

[Fox89]

Nick Wirth's CDF-only concept is daring, to say the least. It may have worked for sportscars, but these are formula cars.

Is there any reason why it shouldn't work with Formula cars?

I really hope this system comes out with something competitive. It would be good to be able to do away with wind tunnels, they aren't exactly cheap....also I kind of have this romantic image of someone sitting on a beach designing the aero of an F1 car on his laptop.

[darcym]

I find it interesting that Branson is beating the this is a %100 British team drum "get behind us" sort of thing, yet there is not a British driver on the line up ?