Formula 1 teams are in a much healthier financial situation these days thanks to a combination of the cost cap and the explosion in global popularity.
Some teams have now surpassed a billion-pound valuation in the last few years since F1 gained traction in US markets and among different demographics.
Prior to the budget cap coming into effect in 2021 and aero testing restrictions, teams would be effectively trying to outspend each other in a bid to win races and it eventually led to a two-tier system. Teams with the most money could spend their way out of problems, while those on the breadline would struggle.
Before being taken over by Renault in 2016 Team Enstone, now Alpine, operated under the Lotus guise and was majority-owned by Genii Capital. The team won races with Kimi Raikkonen in 2012 and 2013, but were always struggling financially.
In 2015 this came to a head at the Belgian Grand Prix when the team was threatened by bailiffs over unpaid bills, jeopardising their chances of competing. The whole saga became the subject of TV show ‘Can’t Pay, We’ll Take It Away’ in the UK and while they ended up agreeing to race, it would be the start of a long-running trend throughout the season.
Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu, who was the chief engineer of the team at the time, discussed how Bernie Ecclestone had to once help them at one race on the Pelas Pistas podcast.
Bernie Ecclestone once helped Lotus after they were locked out of hospitality due to unpaid bills
Lotus had already got into trouble over unpaid sea freight bills at the Singapore GP, leading to them having to rent hospitality equipment. When they turned up at the Japanese GP having not paid the bill to the promoter of the race from the previous year, they locked them out of their hospitality unit.
Teams rely on dedicated units for races outside of Europe instead of their motorhomes, and Komatsu recalls how they were denied access to basic things that made life incredibly complicated for the engineers at the track.
“I remember Bernie [Ecclestone] saved us in Suzuka. We hadn’t paid any bills at the circuit, so we couldn’t even go to the catering. We didn’t have lights or power in the garage, we didn’t have internet. I remember I was chief race engineer, but because there was no internet there was no point bringing everyone to the track. This is Thursday,” said Komatsu.
“So I left all my engineers back in the hotel to work where they had internet, then I came to the track and I remember we were building the car with temporary lighting. Then to fire up the car we needed to send lots of files through the internet, which we didn’t have. So I had to get one control engineer with his USB stick to come from the hotel, then put it on the Mercedes laptop, connect it to our car, then fire it up. I was ridiculous. Bernie knew we didn’t have any catering, so he let us eat at his facility. But he said “Just you guys, no top management.” So we put on our pit stop sign ‘Thank you Bernie’.”
Romain Grosjean brings some positivity to Lotus with Spa podium
Given the dire situation facing Lotus, it would be easy for everyone in the team to become demotivated, however, Romain Grosjean provided some uplift at the Belgian GP amid their bailiff troubles.
In the race, Grosjean was running in fourth place behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel when the team could sense an opportunity to score a podium.
Lotus was running Mercedes engines at the time, which were far superior to the Renault in the Red Bull. Grosjean was instructed by Mercedes to use a secret higher engine mode to pass Vettel, which made him eight-tenths per-lap faster.
Mercedes would go on to secure a one-two-three as a manufacturer but did not reveal to Lotus what the engine mode was, despite Grosjean telling his engineers that the car drove differently.
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