Lewis Hamilton may have taken a popular victory at Silverstone on Sunday but he was less-than-impressed with what he was handed on the podium.
The traditional prize for winning the British Grand Prix, the Royal Automobile Club gold trophy, was nowhere to be seen, with the winner instead handed a red monstrosity painted in the colours of race title sponsor Santander. Hamilton, whose only previous victory at Silverstone was in 2008, was eventually reunited with what he described as the “real trophy”. He added: “The trophies that we have nowadays, whilst it’s a real privilege being on top of the podium, my one fell to pieces! The bottom fell off the one we just had. It’s plastic, it must cost ten pounds! It’s so bad. I might just get the plaque, which is probably the most expensive part of the trophy I think. Back in the day they really, really made the trophies.”
Great Debate
The Silverstone build-up began in London on Thursday with the inaugaural Black Book Race Forum, a conference on the future of Formula One and motorsport part-organised by SportsPro, attracted 150 decision-makers from around the world. Topics ranged from the future of the sport post-Bernie Ecclestone to Formula One's quest to improve 'the show' and habit of tinkering with the rules, but perhaps the most striking comments came from Razlan Razali, the chief executive of Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit. Razali, who was due to meet Ecclestone on Saturday to discuss the future of the Malaysian event beyond 2015, praised MotoGP's accessibility and interest in improving the spectator experience, and recalled that the circuit's first effort to stage a post-race concert a few years back saw it receive a “reprimand” from Formula One Management.
Double exposure
If there was ever any doubt about the wisdom of Mercedes' decision to allow its two drivers to race their dominant cars all the way to the flag this year, events at Silverstone showed why it is not only admirable but neccesary. After Nico Rosberg dropped out of the race with a gearbox failure, ending another potentially thrilling duel, Hamilton's dominant Mercedes was barely picked up again by the TV cameras until he crossed the finish line. Mercedes need to prolong the battles to retain the limelight.
Sponsorship tidbits
There was plenty going on sponsorship-wise in the run-up to Sunday's race. Lotus confirmed that the logos of EMC Corporation, whose chief marketing officer Jonathan Martin offered a revealing take on the power of Formula One sponsorship at the Black Book Race Forum, will have an increased presence on the car at three races, including Silverstone, this year; Haas Automation, in what is likely to be the precursor to an engine agreement for the new Gene Haas-led American Formula One team, became a Ferrari sponsor; Thomson Reuters celebrated 15 years of partnership with Williams by receiving more logo space on the car; and, according to leading Formula One journalist Adam Cooper, Hugo Boss has confirmed it will leave McLaren after over 30 years as a sponsor to focus on several non-Formula One related marketing initiatives with Mercedes-Benz.
Renault re-aligns
As expected, following a season of underperformance and pressure from world champions Red Bull Racing, Renault Sport has rung the changes, with a new management team confirmed on Friday. Cyril Abiteboul, who until last week's sale was team principal of the Caterham Formula One team, is returning to Renault in a newly-created position as managing director of Renault Sport F1. He will be joined by Jérôme Stoll, who is replacing Jean-Michel Jalinier as president. Renault will supply only three teams – Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Caterham – next year, with Lotus expected to shortly confirm a switch to Mercedes power for 2015 and beyond.
And finally
If Formula One can have gimmicks – double points at the last race, artificially-created sparks, standing starts instead of safety car restarts – then so can this business diary:
