While we knew Formula 1 racing was an expensive venture, leave it to the 2008/2009 edition of Formula Money to spell-out the jaw-dropping finances for us. According to their latest guide, the supporting cast will shell out over $3 billion this year in team resources -- with Toyota dropping more than $445 million of it alone. McLaren is a close second at $433 million, while Ferrari rounds out the top three with $414 million coming out of pocket. If you take a look at team resources divided by points scored, each point cost Ferrari $1.9 million in 2007 (while each point cost Honda a staggering $57.2 million during the same period!). With the financial markets around the world roiled in turmoil, many are wondering when the F1 budgets are going to feel the pinch...
Remember the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix? How about a refresher – Fernando Alonso took the checkered flag, but all eyes on the podium weren't focused on the Spanish champion...they were on David Coulthard, who stood on the third step of the podium in a red cape. (Yeah, seriously.) The scarlet accessory was part of a commercial agreement that saw Red Bull Racing promoting Superman Returns. Few expected DC to score that podium finish (it was the first for the new team) but there he stood.
This year, it appears that the Justice League has switched allegiance, as Toyota has announced a similar arrangement to promote the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight. No word yet on whether Jarno Trulli (who took third in last week's French Grand Prix) and Timo Glock (last year's GP2 champion) will have to wear black capes if they make it onto the podium, but their racing suits are tipped to feature a Batman theme, as will the cars themselves. But that's not all: during this coming weekend's British Grand Prix, the new Batmobile and Bat-Pod will be on display at Silverstone, and the Batmobile is reportedly scheduled to hit the track this Thursday evening for a run around the circuit alongside the Toyota TF108.
According to the Yomiyuri Shimbun newspaper, Toyota is considering a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010 with a hybrid racing car. This seems like a natural progression for the automaker, which has entered hybrids in the last two Tokachi 24-hour enduros in Japan, winning it last year with a retired Supra Super GT car that was retrofitted with a hybrid system. The Denso SARD Supra HV-R had a single electric motor for the rear wheels and in-wheel motors up front. Toyota says that its future results in F1 have a bearing on whether it will follow through with a Le Mans bid, but let's be serious for a moment. Toyota's F1 experiment has been an exercise in futility, and with the recently-announced 10 5-year freeze on F1 engine development, the writing is on the wall for Toyota to pursue other motorsports avenues, especially if it wants to use racing as a laboratory for street technology. Sports car racing is a much better bet in this regard, as has been shown by automakers like Audi, who races and wins under diesel power, and Chevrolet, who has used the Corvette Racing effort to similar effect. A Toyota win at Le Mans under hybrid power would also elevate that particular green technology's profile in Europe, where it still plays second fiddle to diesel. Toyota's last factory-backed Le Mans effort occurred in 1999, when one of the automaker's GT-ONE racers finished second overall.
