Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[raymondu999]

The dealer makes a big bunch from the servicing too. Also you must remember, there are 180 or so countries who buy Mercedes. And locations that will get more visibility because of Lewis. 330 S500's is a nothing.. 2 cars in each country a year? Anyway.. Lewis is bringing a strong brand presence to millions of kids. That is the key.

F1 is ENTERTAINMENT and a MARKETING EXERCISE...

Lewis stands out leagues ahead of anyone else here. He is a gem. Worth 50 million? hmm.. if they pay for it, yes.

Mercedes as a brand has ToMA. And none of that ToMA is linked to F1. I can personally name at least 30 people I know personally that would buy Mercs without caring if it’s Hamilton or Mazepin in the car. Just roughly counting, at least 20 of them don’t even know Mercedes is in F1.

If it were Ferrari, maybe you’d be right. Because Ferrari’s whole ToMA and brand revolves around F1.

Don’t forget they need the REVENUE of 330 s classes to make up for the cost of signing Lewis. That’s not even taking into account the CoGS

[raymondu999]

Significant Merc sales due to their F1 involvement...I think not (regardless of who is wheeling their cars). I think the world views the brand as luxury oriented, not sport. If it was a big factor of their sales, and drivers an integral part thereof, they would not have that big chunk of styrofoam, Bot, in the other car.

I agree.

I can see Big Red making gains from their exposure, maybe Mcl. I figure Ren was gaining nothing and hoped the Alpine switch might help move some product.

Agreed once again

Merc sales

Source — https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/mercedes-benz-us-figures/

There is 0 visible correlation to F1 success, and/or Hamilton driving for them.

[raymondu999]

Just as an appendix — I am in no way saying Hamilton isn’t worth a big salary. But I’m saying he cannot bargain for one as is — all the chips are in Mercedes’ hand right now and all he has is a pair of Jacks.

Will Merc use that? I don’t know. But they can.

Hamilton is the most known/marketable (active, at least) F1 driver on the grid bar none atm — maybe Kimi and/or Vettel second but I doubt it’s close. But I’m saying that marketability is not in the same direction that Mercedes (the big company) needs. Hence is not a major talking point in their car presence.

Look at it this way. If you were a car dealer for Mercedes. Would you (assuming Russell is signed instead of Mercedes) be saying OMFG WHATS GONNA HAPPEN TO MY SALES NOW?!

I think not

[prince]

No one is worth 50 million dollars for a F1 team. Any resource's value in the market is driven by it's demand. Lewis has nowhere to go. When Mercedes have the best car on the grid and a talented young driver up for grabs for a petty sum, it makes no sense to pay 50 million to anyone, even if it is 7 times WDC. Mercedes is such a big brand around the globe that it can do without Lewis Hamilton's association if it is about atrocious commercial demand for a contract.

I wouldn't miss Hamilton in Mercedes, cruising to victories. He was fun to watch when he was driving balls out of the car in those McLarens, producing astonishing outcomes. It's hardly a sight to see him driving those rocketships and disappearing. To do that, paying 50 million is just insane. Like some other member here said, if I were Ola, i would ask Hamilton how much would he pay to drive the W12.

[PlatinumZealot]

Put it this way... They say Puma bought the 2008 Olympics for 1 million dollars. That was the promotion money they paid to Bolt.
Puma was all over the screens in the main sprint events. Meanwhile Addidas paid 120 million and Nike paid165 million to various other stars and advertizing spots back then. You can see Puma easily got a steal. Visibility worth 150 million for only 1 million dollars.

So that was the value over the four weeks. Anyway.

Now Lewis is racing for an entire YEAR.
50 million is a bargain I would say just under a million a week? I think he does provide that value.

I am not saying Mercedes is to pay all this, because they don't. I believe the team sponsors make up that money.

Mercedes team has a roughly 400 million budget. Now it will be $175 million? Thats a lot of excess cash that Lewis could put to good use.

[prince]

You are asking Mercedes to do what Adidas and Nike did in 2008. Pay huge sums for the stars.
Mercedes can easily pay a million to George and see him cruise to championship and give them same exact visiblity, like Puma did.

[raymondu999]

Put it this way... They say Puma bought the 2008 Olympics for 1 million dollars. That was the promotion money they paid to Bolt.
Puma was all over the screens in the main sprint events. Meanwhile Addidas paid 120 million and Nike paid165 million to various other stars and advertizing spots back then. You can see Puma easily got a steal. Visibility worth 150 million for only 1 million dollars.

This is all true, but Olympics is head and shoulders above anything F1 can offer -- especially viewership etc.

PZ I know you're a Hamilton fan, for example. Has Hamilton's Merc linked motivated you to buy Merc cars? If you had a McLaren before 2013, did you then sell that to quickly buy a Mercedes?

We're talking about a car here -- not a jersey or merchandise.

Thats a lot of excess cash that Lewis could put to good use.

Don't forget driver salary caps

Long story short -- let's agree to disagree. I will never subscribe to the view that F1 holds marketing value in terms of getting people to buy Mercedes (particularly) as a brand; and I believe you to hold the vice versa position. A bit, maybe. But I don't think even 2010 produced an upwards boost in Ferrari sales in Spain.

[raymondu999]

No one is worth 50 million dollars for a F1 team. Any resource's value in the market is driven by it's demand.

Agreed. It's simple economics.

Lewis has nowhere to go.

Agreed. Hamilton has no options. Even if his marketing value holds 200million worth of value for a year's contract -- he just doesn't have a choice if he wants to continue in F1. A picture paints a thousand words, so, behold...

The perfectly inelastic demand, where because supply == 1(Merc being the last F1 team) then the consumer(Hamilton) has to pay whatever price the supplier asks.

Mercedes is such a big brand around the globe that it can do without Lewis Hamilton's association

Agree. People are not going to make the expenditure of buying a new car based on who their favorite driver drives for. Some with lots of disposable income might. But they probably already own 2-3 Mercedes in the garage.

if I were Ola, i would ask Hamilton how much would he pay to drive the W12.

That is a very interesting scenario. Open up the seat for auction already!! Lol

[Jolle]

No one is worth 50 million dollars for a F1 team. Any resource's value in the market is driven by it's demand.

Agreed. It's simple economics.

Lewis has nowhere to go.

Agreed. Hamilton has no options. Even if his marketing value holds 200million worth of value for a year's contract -- he just doesn't have a choice if he wants to continue in F1. A picture paints a thousand words, so, behold...

The perfectly inelastic demand, where because supply == 1(Merc being the last F1 team) then the consumer(Hamilton) has to pay whatever price the supplier asks.
https://studyfinance.com/wp-content/upl ... mage-1.png

Mercedes is such a big brand around the globe that it can do without Lewis Hamilton's association

Agree. People are not going to make the expenditure of buying a new car based on who their favorite driver drives for. Some with lots of disposable income might. But they probably already own 2-3 Mercedes in the garage.

if I were Ola, i would ask Hamilton how much would he pay to drive the W12.

That is a very interesting scenario. Open up the seat for auction already!! Lol

PMI desperately needs a star to lure in more sponsors and they are known to pay even more then 50 mln a year. If for some reason Hamilton becomes available, they will make him a big offer. If Hamilton wants to drive for PMI is a whole other question.

[Big Tea]

Not a loaded question, I really do not know the answer, but if the deal breaker is a few million, how much would Hamilton make going into US politics?
High profile SIR Lewis Hamilton BLM and Vegan conservationist Fashion, Music etc? How many younger voters would he get ?

I say US because I dont think there is money in it in UK until you have influence 'in the house'

[raymondu999]

PMI desperately needs a star to lure in more sponsors and they are known to pay even more then 50 mln a year. If for some reason Hamilton becomes available, they will make him a big offer. If Hamilton wants to drive for PMI is a whole other question.

Idk. I don’t think they would trade Lec for Ham at the current time. What would they do? Pay off Sainz to sit out?

[El Scorchio]

PMI desperately needs a star to lure in more sponsors and they are known to pay even more then 50 mln a year. If for some reason Hamilton becomes available, they will make him a big offer. If Hamilton wants to drive for PMI is a whole other question.

Idk. I don’t think they would trade Lec for Ham at the current time. What would they do? Pay off Sainz to sit out?

They'd definitely pay one of their drivers to sit out if necessary. They've done it before.

But Hamilton will get his pay check for Mercedes so it's all academic.

[El Scorchio]

PMI desperately needs a star to lure in more sponsors and they are known to pay even more then 50 mln a year. If for some reason Hamilton becomes available, they will make him a big offer. If Hamilton wants to drive for PMI is a whole other question.

Idk. I don’t think they would trade Lec for Ham at the current time. What would they do? Pay off Sainz to sit out?

They'd definitely pay one of their drivers to sit out if necessary. They've done it before. Hamilton to Ferrari is a huge story.

But Hamilton will get his pay check for Mercedes so it's all academic.

[Jolle]

PMI desperately needs a star to lure in more sponsors and they are known to pay even more then 50 mln a year. If for some reason Hamilton becomes available, they will make him a big offer. If Hamilton wants to drive for PMI is a whole other question.

Idk. I don’t think they would trade Lec for Ham at the current time. What would they do? Pay off Sainz to sit out?

Pay off Sainz obviously.

PMI has big contracts with companies like Shell, RayBan and others. Over the past 40 years of some of these relationships they always had people like Lauda, Prost, Schumacher, Senna to promote their products, hold speaches, do commercials, etc. Now instead of a living legend like all of those above they have a two time race winner and the son of a rally legend. Not the level for what they pay. Even a brand like Aston Martin went in a blink of an eye for someone with a status above someone that actually delivers on track.

[PlatinumZealot]

Mercede Marketing value is in the billions. Guess who is a big part of that value?

https://www.planetf1.com/news/mercedes-f1-value/

Remember this is more than just selling cars. Anyone with a marketing degree can tell you how buimding a brand and communicating value is important.

An article on how driver marketing value is important

https://www.marketingweek.com/racing-to ... g-formula/