“I cannot envisage that
Formula One Management's [undisclosed] forecast earnings still hold in the economic crisis,”
FIA President
Max Mosley told a German magazine back in January.
The glitzy, champagne-fuelled Paddock Club is expected to be one of the areas hit hardest by the credit crunch, with corporate hospitality – for which it charges an average of $3,000 per person per day – likely to be greatly reduced as the number of VIPs entertained at grands prix looks set to tumble.
As a case in point,
BMW has traditionally looked after up to 400 guests in this fashion at the Australian Grand Prix by way of its own grandstand and restaurant – at a cost of £450,000 – but that will not be happening in 2009, threatening, the
FT explains, the profitability and very
raison d'être of the Paddock Club, in light of the significant costs of transporting all of its catering equipment around the world.
“Although this isn't the largest of F1's revenue streams,” stated one of F1's debt-holders, “it is the most at risk.”
