Pay To Drive Latifi In The Spotlight

Today we had the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Monza which also was the first drive for Nyck De Vries who was covering for Alex Albon in the Williams team. Albon pulled out on Saturday morning due to suffering from appendicitis opening up for stand in driver De Vries to cover for the team.

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Not only did De Vries outqualify the other Williams driver Latifi on Saturday, but today scored 2 World Championship points after finishing 9th in his first race. Just in todays race DeVries has lead more laps in the top 10 than Latifi has all season.

The only why Latifi is in Formula One is the sponsors he brings to the team which pay for his seat. I do think this is a dangerous road to travel down for any team as the team suffers by not having the best drivers available.

Latifi has his dads businesses Sofina Foods paying for his seat along with Lavazza Coffee and the Royal Bank Of Canada as he is Canadian. His salary is the lowest in Formula One being $1million per season.

The lower down the grid the Formula One team is the cheaper the sponsorship deals are and why I believe Williams need to ditch Latifi. His contract expires at the end of this season and don't see how they can renew this as by not being competitive he is costing the team.

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Latifi hasn't scored 1 point yet and we are already over halfway through the season.

De Vries today earned Williams $2 million as 1 point equates to $1 million is the final payout at the end of the season when the Constructors Championship is paid out. Surely having a competitive driver makes the team more successful allowing them to charge more for sponsorships.

Duracell have signed a deal with Williams for next season and can see the others like Sofina,Lavazza and Royal Bank of Canada being discarded. Financially it is suicide for teams not to have the best drivers available especially as there are budgetary caps in place these days.

Formula One is a good business these days as teams do make profit and decent profits at that the more successful you are. This is not the only way teams earn their rewards as a team like Williams along with Ferrari and McLaren get an extra slice of the cake as they have been involved for such a long period of time. Ferrari pocket around $68 million for being the one team to be around from the beginning. Williams receives $10 million which is paid out each season they are involved. This is possibly why changing the name will not happen as $10 million would then be lost and is money for nothing.

Teams have a cost cap of $145 million per season so in theory they need to cover this amount. Last season all teams received $35 million for competing besides the other points earned. Williams with their gift of $10 million and the $35 million sees them having a shortfall of $100 million and why Championship points are crucial to turning a a profit.

Sponsorship deals should be the gravy that males the team profitable and why it is important to earn points in every race. 23 races per season requires each team to earn 5 points per race on average to break even with their cost cap so surely having a driver that can compete and earn is far more fruitful than relying on sponsors instead.



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I REALLY hope that they will replace Latifi with Nyck de Vries. This race today should have been proof enough in my opinion. Yes, unfortuantely F1 is a very money oriented sport where drivers can buy their place in, but it should not neglect the fact that the team might have gotten better sposnrs with better drivers and more points on the board. In the end nobody wants to sponsor a dead last team on the grid.

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I think they are looking at Logan Sargent for next season as that is the rumors around the paddock. De Vries should get a drive possibly, but maybe as a test or reserve driver as there aren't any seats available.

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You're right. And it was funny to read the comments on my Dutch news app earlier this week, after Nyck de Vries gave an interview. People said he'd never get a seat, because he was too cocky, too old for a rookie, his championships in Formula E and Formula 2 weren't so impressive, he was stupid to be his own manager, and of course he didn't bring in any money.

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I think he will get his opportunity as he drives for Mercedes Formula E and due to Toto Wolff having stake in Williams plus Susie Wolff the manager of the Venturi Williams team or was until she retired this month. I think he will be looked after by the Merc team and why he got the seat. He was having lunch in the Merc hospitality building at the time he was told. Wolff would have been the first call made by Williams as he has drivers under management and being such short notice Nyck was extremely lucky with right place right time. Albon being ill gave the team no time to consider anyone else as qualifying was literally a few hours away when they found out.

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Many Formula 1 drivers have passed through there thanks to sponsorship, an example is the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado who happened to be at Williams and although he won one victory, he got tired of breaking cars in that team. Unfortunately, as this is a business, small or medium size teams prefer to save the season with this way of receiving money.

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Very true. The business model has changed however and now teams don't need to go this route as the sport is profitable and sustainable as long as you score points regularly. The top 5 teams are all nearly in profit already as they have covered their budgetary caps with just under half the season still to race.

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