'Fiat don't fund Ferrari' - Montezemolo

[chunterer]

Interesting quotes on F1-LIVE....

In light of these comments the controversial FIA-Ferrari 'cosy up' becomes even more significant?!

Also if Fiat is nothing to do with funding Ferrari's F1 effort no wonder they are so keen to hang onto Phillip Morris in the face of anti tobacco legislation...

Or is it that Fiat don;t have any money left to give them anyway?

[Dani Filth]

they usually never gave them money directly . they had Iveco trucks for free i belive and stuff like that ..

[EERO]

So Ferari have carried the the word "FIAT" on their engine covers since the '70's and now on the winglets because they think it looks pretty?

[Dutton]

I think the idea was probably suggesting that FIAT gives minimal support in the manufacturer sense.

That is, Honda/Renault/BMW will pump a lot more into their respective outfits than FIAT will with Ferrari.

I imagine that was the point trying to be made.

[Sodemo]

The FIA funds Ferrari.

[Mike_Wooshy]

where has this extra T come from then Monster ??

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by The Monster

The FIA funds Ferrari.

They have switched to Briatore lately, then...

[Raglanparade]

I could think of many names starting with T that id happily put after the FIA

[Dutton]

Originally Posted by jasonhill9884

I could think of many names starting with T that id happily put after the FIA

Yeah, you're right.

It is indeed totally, titanically, tremendously and triumphantly talented.

[GTRMagic]

Federation
Internationale
de
l'Automobile
de
Torino

Easy

[Raglanparade]

I was thinking moreso Turmoil

[kmsport]

Federation
Internationale
de
l'Automobile
de
******s

[nkh]

So I guess nothing much has changed...

The next 'issue' on the horizon - tobacco advertising and F1 on tv:

Originally Posted by Super Tourer

2003 manufacturer team budgets. (figures from F1 Business)

.
.
.

Ferrari
Total budget -$303M
Ferrari input $65M cash
Fiat input $5M cash - $8M non cash

[Adam43]

Well source nkh. Thanks for making the effort to find that.
You could probably argue that $5m is practically zero in modern budgets!

[chunterer]

Yes, that is an interesting set of figures, so Montezemolo's comments are more believable than unbelievable.

So if Fiat have only been putting token amounts (for F1 standards anyway!!) into it it's no wonder there's this big debate about Philip Morris long term involvement and the loss of 'other' sponsors to rival teams.

Ferrari must be more eager than ususal to find money, i.e Martini, or for PM to do it for them?

[Dutton]

I thought it was well established that FIAT play an insignificant role in the income of the Ferrari F1 team?

Apparently not.

[mac]

Likewise. They don't actually have the financial resources to throw away on F1 the way Mercedes or BMW can.

It is more a token contribution in light of the connection between the companies.

[chunterer]

Fair point, but it's normal to assume that any factory entered racing team is backed quite heavily by the owning/parent company with additional support brought into supplement it, not the other way round as it appears is the case these days with Ferrari.

Besides, I would have thought none of the big car makers can afford to spend anything like the amounts they do in real terms!!

This lack of Fiat financial involvement makes the notional link between the FIA and Ferrari more significant, certainly with regard to the long term involvement of them (as has discussed many times before) with F1, in part assisted by that bond they are given every year as part of the Concorde Agreement and all that.

It's not just that Ferrari is the most important team to F1/FIA being the reason why they receive this money but perhaps actually more to do with helping keep them in it!

I'd guess overall that Fiat gains merit from Ferrari's exploits in any case, so the fact that they don't spend any real sums on the team is a major bonus to them.

[touringlegend]

I guess $5m don't take long to meet in terms of trucks, trailers etc, as someone mentioned earlier.