The tendency for factory teams to dip into and out of motorsport categories is as old as time. More recently and unquestionably in this regard, Formula One’s most damaging post-millennial moments came in 2008 and 2009 when first Honda, then Toyota and BMW departed its travelling circus.
Citing the cash crunch as justification was an obvious and credible foil to brands that relentlessly pumped in hundreds of millions in the face of continually elusive on-track success. When company boards shoulder responsibilities to deliver profits to shareholders, a dented bottom line against the tenuous marketing value of also-ran status as vanity projects in the world’s most expensive sport becomes an exceedingly hard sell (not to mention consistent public embarrassment).
Like textbook cases of responsible corporate governance, the examples are legion as the lesson is singular: the longevity of high-expenditure projects is wobbly at best without board-level support.
This is why, fuelled by musical
