The dominance of Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1 has had many people suggesting the sport has become boring. That it’s turning fans away from the category. The fact Vettel and his team have won the two biggest prizes in the sport for four consecutive years helps to support this claim.
As bad as that might be for the average F1 punter, if it is bad at all, you’d reckon team sponsors would be loving all the attention. Apparently not. Arriving late to the Red Bull gravy train—first as ordinary sponsor in 2011, then as title sponsor at the end of last year—Infiniti has always been an odd and slightly misleading fit with F1’s premier team, given Renault builds the engines. And now they’re actually having a whinge that Vettel’s success is bad for their sponsorship.
Yes, really. Here, look:
“It’s a fact that we are in F1 to gain awareness of our brand, and that’s all about getting eyeballs on screens.
“From that point of view you could say Sebastian has been too successful. Wrapping up the championship with four races to run is maybe not good news for us from that perspective.”
They’re the words of Andy Palmer, Infiniti’s Executive Vice President, and he may as well add moron to his otherwise impressive job title. Perhaps he’d prefer INFINITI Red Bull Racing to be fighting with Williams as the best former high achievers in the field scrapping over tenth place and whatever dignity that might offer.
A sponsor complaining that the team they back is too successful? Really, get a grip Andy. Proving his own flaws Palmer adds they will be leeching off Red Bull and Renault successes further by creating more special editions carrying Vettel’s name. Authentically, too he insists.
“The beauty of Seb is that he won’t get involved in any project that isn’t utterly authentic,†said Palmer. “So he turns up at our test days and puts in the hard work. It’s a genuine benefit, and we have plans to use his expertise on more models bearing his name. But the point is we want to do them properly, and that means they are inevitably a couple of years down the line in the product cycle.â€
“Utterly authentic.” Do you reckon he had a straight face when he said that?
[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
8 replies on “Some people are never happy”
Yeah what a joke.
but he was hoping more people will see the little letters on the side of the car…
If they wanted more people to know who they are they should actually advertise the brand some more… + make decent cars unlike the current car that they are just wrapping a turd up with some bling.
You see his point though. His brand isn’t anywhere to be seen on the screen for close to two hours except at the very beginning and the very end. That and they are associated with a driver that nobody really likes.
There’s been seven races in a row where an Infiniti branded driver has been on the top step holding a shiny trophy. During that time that driver and his team secured their respective world championships, which brings with it countless post-race and post-celebratory articles and media coverage all featuring the Infiniti brand in supporting photographs.
Despite what he thinks he’s getting more exposure than pretty much any other brand in all of Formula 1 except for Red Bull.
So he misses out on two hours of on screen action, but gets the majority of coverage everywhere else in the sport.
Perhaps Red Bull could demote him to Toro Rosso and see if he thinks that would be better for his brand. Or I’m sure Marussia wouldn’t object to a cash injection and a new “technical partnership”.
@Liam spot on mate. In all honesty, it sounds like Infiniti are struggling to justify the expenditure internally and as such is making noises about exiting F1… I hope RBR have Plan B title sponsor for next year
I think he does have a point. The only time you saw sebastian at abu dhabi was at the start of the race, the end when he won and on the podium. Between those spots I saw a lot of Lewis Hamilton, 2 squabbling Ferrari’s, Sauber’s, Force India’s and a Williams even.
Infiniti Sauber, then.
How well do you reckon the Infiniti FX Gutiérrez would sell?
What a clown. Maybe he made the comment in jest. I hope he did otherwise he looks like an idiot.
Palmer’s point is that Vettel’s dominance of F1 is turning off viewers, not that his logo isn’t being shown enough during a race. It’s not just bad for Infiniti, it’s arguably bad for everyone. The races are boring, the results predictable.