Sebastian Vettel will add an additional EUR 3 million as bonus money to his bank account for winning the 2012 drivers title.
Yesterday we reported that Red Bull Racing’s staff will be paid $16,000 as world championship bonus.
That alone will cost the energy drink-owned team over 8 million.
Sebastian Vettel told Germany’s newspaper Bild: “If you do a good job, you get a bonus. Everyone is working for the same goal, whether you’re a mechanic or the postman.”
Heikki Kovalainen says that he will not be able to bring any sponsorship money to Caterham next year even if it is a necessity.
Heikki Kovalainen has raced for the team since their debut at the start of the 2010 Formula One season but have so far failed to score even a single point. Their best finish to date was twelfth in the 2010 Japanese GP.
“I knew that it would be a little difficult. I knew it would not be easy to achieve points with the team. I was expecting this year to be competing with the midfield teams in some races, but we were not able to do so. Thus this year was disappointing” (Quotes to F1Arab in Abu Dhabi)
F1 Head had reported in October that Heikki could lose his seat to a paid driver and also that Heikki Kovalainen was in talks with Sahara Force India to occupy the vacant seat due to Nico Hulkenberg’s move to Sauber.
Caterham are interested in fielding their reserve Giedo Van der Garde as he brings key sponsorship money courtesy of Dutch fashion house company McGregor.
Marussia currently lie ahead of Caterham in the Constructors championship table in tenth leading to suggestions that the team might be looking out for a pay driver to make up for the financial losses.
“I do not bring money to the team, they pay me. If the team wanted to save some money, [they’ll] look for another driver”.
“They (Caterham) know that I am not going to bring money, so I informed my management that I do not want to search for personal sponsors to stay in Formula 1, I do not like this idea. If I could not get a salary in Formula 1 I’ll look for something else to do.”
Force India’s drivers may have gone without pay so far in 2012, according to rumours.Paul di Resta, Sahara Force India F1 Paul di Resta, Sahara Force India F1. Austria’s Sportwoche reports speculation that Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta are the latest victims of team owner Vijay Mallya’s struggling Indian airline Kingfisher.
As the 2011 season kicked off, German Hulkenberg said the airline’s high profile financial problems have “nothing to do with us”.
“This is formula one, not an airline,” he insisted. Business Book GP 2012 estimates Hulkenberg and his Scottish teammate di Resta’s salaries this year at EUR 500,000 and 200,000 respectively. But Sportwoche cited more than one paddock source in suggesting that the duo have not been paid anything yet. The magazine said only the payments from title partner Sahara are keeping the Silverstone based team afloat.
Source: Motorsport.com
Motorsport Head 