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Perez himself has said he's leaving.... Stroll and Vettel have contracts, Perez doesn't.
You don't invest millions in an F1 team for your son, who to be fair is a reasonable driver most of the time, and then sack him....
HPP is profit making in its own right.... they could exit the sport as manufacturing team, but still supply other teams with engines.
TBH when Mercedes said earlier this year 'we are committed to F1' I took it as a pinch of salt for this reason... they could say that confidently because of the engine supply side. After all this is how they used to operate.... Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was most definitely a thing! And guess who's back in bed for 2021....
My above assessment does not include the possibility that Stroll and co could conceivably buy out Mercedes Formula One Ltd... and sell what is now Racing Point. Using what is now Mercedes for Aston Martin brand leverage instead. In which case Lewis may inherently end up racing in green, with Toto continuing as principle shareholder and team boss.
These rumour have died down.... but IMO still entirely possible.
Personally I would put that something like 20% chance Toto will be at Racing Point/Aston F1 next year, 50% for 2022.
Practically zero chance Lewis will be... IMO. He has nothing to gain and everything to lose in jumping ship.
The interconnected web that Stroll is bringing together, and the positioning of the individual components to maximise the potential of each other.... is quite simply, genius. IMO.
To get your logo on just the back of Lewis Hamilton's wing mirror would be about the same price.
The naming rights are the key, and Commentators saying Aston Martin every few minutes to millions of viewers. Anyone who thinks about it logically knows there is nothing in common with the F1 car and a Vantage/DBS etc.... but somehow that ends up being forgotten ;o)
Yup self funding.... most F1 teams are profit making in their own right.... some of the slower teams are borderline. Sponsor income is huge, and alone should cover the circa 2-300 mill a year it costs to run a team. Some drivers bring money into the team too with personal sponsors who follow them - Perez is one with the biggest personal support, with a Mexican Bank. Then there is prize money too with the top team taking home over £200m, slowest team about 1/4 of that.
Just in summary.... it's a whole lot more complicated than is possible in on paragraph.
The F1 team is self funding... Racing Point are well known for overperfomlng their budget now, never mind from next year on when a budget cap comes into force - at a level significantly below what the teams income usually is.
My view is that Stroll & Co are using the F1 team's potential as the ultimate advertising billboard at a bargain price due to running them, both. Because the £20 mill I believe that AML is paying, for naming/branding rights of a podium contending F1 team and all the advertising, frills, customer schmoozing and brand loyalty that comes with that, is ridiculously 'cheap'.
The most interesting one with F1 tech transfer... is where Andy Cowell pops up!
Most of what is usually labelled as 'tech from F1 cars' is just PR guff and bluster, with little real world transfer - the demands are just too different.
But if Cowell pops up with AMG, AML or somewhere in between..... things could get VERY interesting.