Money, Money, Money

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit…

Last week’s Scatt equating Social Media and Michael Andretti’s failure to buy his way into F1 brought some details out of the info swamp.

An early rip said the bank that’s financing Sauber and Alfa Romeo Racing was thrown on the table at the last minute. The story said Andretti and his investors didn’t want the bank and the deal stumbled.

Another story said the people in F1 didn’t think Andretti’s money was strong enough and they didn’t want weak ownership on the grid.

Andretti said the money and the deal changed at the last minute and he backed away from the table.

All of that, or some combination of the above, could be true. The point is F1 money is deep and a tangled mess. Private banks, deep pockets and Monopoly money defines F1. Some estimate winning at half a billion dollars a year. Just being on the grid might be as much as $300 million.

In short, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

Peace.