2014 Formula 1 Season Thread

I get the whole 'look at me im rich' thing. I don't get the 'this watch costs more money than my employer pays my entire pitcrew but i don't care about that and want to flaunt anyway'
 
I get the whole 'look at me im rich' thing. I don't get the 'this watch costs more money than my employer pays my entire pitcrew but i don't care about that and want to flaunt anyway'

The other way around! You won't notice I'm rich, but my watch costs more than your car...
 
Dont pitcrews and engineers make a damn good amount compared to other sports?
 
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Dont pitcrews and engineers make a damn good amount compared to other sports?
I've heard that compared to the hours they put in and the degree of education they have, the salary is merely acceptable. Additionally, I guess that a backbencher team like Marussia pays worse than, say, McLaren.
 
Dont pitcrews and engineers make a damn good amount compared to other sports?

Have to be a little careful with definitions here...

The guys who carry out the pit stops also work in the factory to build/modify the cars between races, so there's increased wage associated with experience, but not mountains of cash.

The 'engineers' as in people who work on the pit wall are part of the traditional F1 employee sniping wage-fest.

Sure everyone is better paid than in other sports, but the skill set used by F1 mechanics is rather more in demand that those associated with many sports.
 
I remember reading Steve Matchett's book Life in the Fast Lane and in 1996 he was paid a touch under 30000GBP, which was reasonable until you considered the absolutely horrible hours they worked, sometimes up to two or three days straight (no rules regarding pitcrew back in the mid nineties) and being away from home for much of the year. The hourly rate worked out to be something ridiculously low.
 
This article made a few references:

"A person who was strategically very important for us and was in the salary range of 90-100 thousand a year (110,000 - 120,000 euros, or 166,000$ - 185,000$ CAN) was lured from us with 180,000 pounds (220,000 euros, or 332,000$ CAN)" said Louis.

Even a worker in the factory, earning in the mid-30,000 pounds range (42,000 euros, or 65,000$ CAN) was lured from Lotus with a higher salary "from a team that was far behind us in the championship standings".

Louis said those teams then complain about escalating costs "That they themselves have driven".
 
This article made a few references:

I suspect Lotus are just a bit bitter.. if you don't pay your employees then those that can will leave immediately without serving their notice period.
 
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42k a year doesnt sound too awful for a factory worker, but if you factor in the time you put in and the fact you're halfway across the word half the time... Now my paycheck doesn't seem so bad
 
Based on what I've heard, you don't apply to F1 teams as an engineer (from a graduate point of view) for the money. You do it cos you love it.

With that said, it's probably cooler to work in a company you admire rather than just testing fucking resistors for years and years because you got in to a company who don't trust what the universities have taught them.
 
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And how many of you guys wouldn't want to be a member of the pit crew for Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari for instance for 45-5000? a year ? There is more to life than just the mountains of money. I am betting every single one of those engine mechanics for instance, looking back, will love and cherish all of those 48 hour marathons just to get the car back together after the driver piled it into a wall during free practice.

I bet they all love what they do and would trade it in for nothing, meager paycheck or not.
 
I personally wouldn't care about the money, the experience alone would make it worth it. Plus, I'm sure it's nice working in an environment that isn't driven by marketing and PR. Of course those things do exist in F1, but they don't dictate the engineering.
 
all true...as long as you're young, and don't have a wife and kids waiting for you
don't have kids myself (yet), but i think that changes your priorities drastically...
 
Hell, I'd do it almost for free just to be part of that environment...but it's probably more plausible to start with GT, GP3, F3 or other inferior series before you jump straight to F1.
 
I personally know a NASCAR car chief. In NASCAR, car chief is basically one below the crew chief, so it's high up the chain. He says he earns $110,000 a year, but during the season will often put in 80 or more hours per week. Additionally, the NASCAR teams have convinced the labor department that their workers work overtime for "entertainment purpose" so they are allowed to bypass the traditional overtime rules during season crunch time. This allows the team members to actually make less per hour after exceeding their working hour limit. My friend calls this "Chinese factory time" rather than overtime.

Obviously a Formula 1 team member will earn more than this but I'm sure the conditions are similar.
 
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I'm sure the overtime that the workers in the red bull factory are puling right now will be the stuff of legends.
 
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