Breaking news
Formula 1
Volkswagen says F1 on "dangerous path" over costs
Volkswagen Group director Bernhard Gobmeier says Formula 1 is on a "dangerous path" over the rising costs to run a team.
Vivek Phadnis
Edited: Aug 22, 2017, 3:57 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
F1 chiefs Chase Carey and Ross Brawn have insisted that they want to see a fairer spread of income among teams once the current Concorde Agreement expires in 2020.
Teams like Force India have urged F1 owners Liberty to focus on reducing costs quickly, and Gobmeier reckons the smaller teams are "walking a very dangerous path".
Two of Volkswagen's brands - Porsche and Audi - have recently committed to Formula E.
"Formula 1 is on a dangerous path. It is expensive. Most of the teams, apart from the big four, have financial problems. And tracks cannot pay what they are asking for," Gobmeier told Motorsport.com during his recent visit to India.
"Due to its expensive nature, they are walking a very dangerous path in my personal opinion. We see it everywhere."
He added: "Mercedes has over 1,500 people working on the F1 project. That is not even considering the suppliers, though it is not so much.
"It is probably 2,000 people on two cars. You should consider how expensive wages are in England and how expensive material is."
Gobmeier reckons Americans have been doing a better job than Europe at controlling costs in sports.
"In America, they have cost control on their minds. They manage it well," he noted. "In Europe, there are a lot of different categories. In some of them, cost control is really good. But, F1 is completely out of range and so is the WEC."
He thinks that F1 needs to offer a better show if it is to attract big sponsors again.
"The number of sponsors is going down. The big sponsors, like the cigarette companies, are not there anymore. The small sponsors are also reducing," he said.
"The number of sponsors is going down and so are the spectator numbers. At the same time, the cost is increasing. Something is not fitting there. They have to make the races more spectacular."
MotoGP "100 times better"
The former Ducati MotoGP boss said that as a show, MotoGP is far better than F1.
"MotoGP is above F1 from the show point of view. It is 100 times better. There is no comparison. MotoGP, its supporting races and World Superbikes are way better than F1," Gobmeier said.
"Theoretically, MotoGP has the potential to commercially capitalise on its popularity. And they do. We have Ducati in our group and we can see what difference in sponsorship can be achieved.
"Ducati is achieving the biggest sponsorship. Even Porsche, Bentley, Audi do not achieve such big sponsorship. Ducati is special and comparable to Ferrari and the sponsors get real value.
"They do good activation at the races, both in terms of media, hospitality, programmes and other things. The car companies are not so good in that."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Raikkonen secures new Ferrari deal for 2018
Next article James Key extends Toro Rosso contract
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Vivek Phadnis
India APRC: Gill clinches third crown
Other rally
Other rally
India APRC: Gill clinches third crown
India APRC: Gill holds sway in Chikmagalur
Other rally
Other rally
India APRC: Gill holds sway in Chikmagalur
India APRC: Gill sounds out warning to rivals
Other rally
Other rally
India APRC: Gill sounds out warning to rivals
Latest news
Oliver Bearman explains why Haas’ 2026 F1 car is ‘hitting its ceiling’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
20 min
Oliver Bearman explains why Haas’ 2026 F1 car is ‘hitting its ceiling’
Toprak Razgatlioglu going through a "difficult time" after shoulder surgery
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 h
Toprak Razgatlioglu going through a "difficult time" after shoulder surgery
Yet another DNF for Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas: ‘Sometimes we don’t quite understand it’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
Yet another DNF for Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas: ‘Sometimes we don’t quite understand it’
Diogo Moreira: “From what we saw in the Austria test, Honda could fight for MotoGP title next year”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 2 h
Diogo Moreira: “From what we saw in the Austria test, Honda could fight for MotoGP title next year”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe