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Money, Money, Money

I know you all think F1 cars run on gasoline, petrol, but they really run on money, and lots of it. As promised the Pit Pass web site has come up with the goods to explain why 2010 was harder for F1 to make money, but make money they did because the bad economy lowered the interest rates on the debt. And when you have that much debt, as CVC does, then you are quids in. For the full explanation go to;

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=43328

As Mrs. Barnard said last week when the original story broke about the huge loss, it looks like money laundering, but no, it is good old tax avoidance, and all quite legal I'm sure. Most of the expenses must be in lawyers and accountants fees to work all this out and manipulate it. It does show however that the income from race fees may have peaked, with tracks no longer willing or able to pay up. If that is true, and if as Jean Todt suggests the TV audience is down, then when interest rates go back up there could be a problem. Bernie is telling us though that the debt will be repaid by 2014, so maybe not. I have learned that Bernie is a lot smarter than anyone else I know when it comes to making money.

In a related story it seems his henchman, Patrick McNally, his signage cohort, is retiring. I hope he has trained someone well to replace him as I do not know anyone who can place signs like Patrick, truly amazing. If you do not think that this is an art stop watching the cars next race and just look at the signs and where they are placed. Remember, in most countries the TV cannot be placed or shot to maximise the signs, the signage has to be "incidental." There is nothing incidental about where Patrick puts them, the cameraman cannot help but shoot them.

Lots of discussion about a "confusing" race yesterday, and if the drivers found it confusing how about your average fan. I did not find it confusing, but as I said yesterday, I found it unsatisfying. I did not comment yesterday on the amount of rubber on the track off-line as it did not seem to stop a lot of overtaking, but Perez said that his crash could have been caused by picking up a chunk on his tire, and drivers have come out about being hit by flying pieces. This is not a good situation.

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