Money is money, no matter what kind of logo is representing it. Sensodyne fits quite well with the sport, especially with their "Rapid relief" slogan. Otherwise it was the time to see who is really loyal to the team and aparently none of the brands which were on for decades were. Segafredo and Hilton are staying if i understand correctly. KPMG is where Boss was, which was replaced by Michael Kors. Sensodyne is on the place where Lucozade was, Chandon is where Johnnie was (worth arround 10 million), NTT came on the rear wing side and CNN on front wing side. NRF is branding and the title sponsor so far is Honda (free engines = arround 20 million, half the drivers salaries = arround 20 milllion and 30 million directly to the team). Mobil is signing itself out, but Castrol/BP is coming (worth arround 28 million) in and TagHeuer is replaced by Richard Mille (10 year contract). Next year they will probably save arround 8-10 millions due to Vandoorne getting the seat.TAG wrote:I've always been a driver fan first but McLaren to me always felt like the team that could out develop anyone over a season. The reason I fell in love with the sport was due to the McLaren (Porsche) TAG effort of the late 80s.
It was really difficult to watch the final few Hamilton years there and 2012 was excruciating. No source I can share at the moment but around the period Ron came back, he did an interview where he stated that he was the one that made the descision to let Hamilton go. He gave the example of examples which was the twittergate saga with Hamilton having shared the performance difference. Ron said that the negotiations with Hamilton had gotten to the point where he needed to show Hamilton that he needed the team more than they needed him. That's why when Hamilton opted for the wing that was clearly slower, McLaren chose not to tell him to work with the wing Button had opted for because it was demonstrably quicker. Fast forward, we know how that ended.
But to think of McLaren from the point of Hamilton's departure to today feels like an exercise in masochism. No wins, the longest stint ever in the team's history without a podium and a season where coming in 6th place is seen as a tremendous step up from the previous year. It's been even worse from a sponsorship standpoint. The title sponsor we were assured was coming never materialized, and TAG Heuer and Hugo Boss have been replaced by Sensodyne Toothpaste.
Try to close your eyes and see Senna with a Sensodyne Toothpaste patch on his overalls instead of TAG and BOSS. It really hurts the brain.
The only mistake that maybe Ron did as i see it was declining a 50 million deal with Johnnie Walker, but on the other hand their car business is very strong right now and this 50 millions are easy to cover.
The biggest problems the sport has right now (the way i see it) is that a team like Mclaren, which is a top noch team and has a budget of few hundred millions cant get itself to the top due to the rules and regulations that restrict them too much. The turning point is next season and if they fail to get themself into the shape to score podiums (not victories, but more than a handfull of podiums), than they will have a BIG problem and us fans as well. Deeply down i quietly hoped they will make a massive leap this year allready and get to the podium, but i was too optimistic (as being a dedicated fan, half of my sin must be apologised for
), but i am quite happy with the overall progress that they have done, being somewhere in higher end of the midfield still behind FI and Williams, but sometimes beating them. Honorable mentions to STR and Hass, but the latter faded away like Sauber did last year troughout the season. Atleast seventh place is secured and they almost tripled the amount of points they have scored since last year.Only time will tell what is about to happen, but i have a feeling that all that money spending they did was not in vain. As i did before i quietly hope again they really had putted their minds into the process of how to resurface themself into the top again and did all the right steps needed to make this happen.
