The car launches continued this week, as pre-season testing in Bahrain is now just two weeks away. The Ferrari camp has announced that their team principal will not be attending some races in 2021. A financial report by Liberty Media shows the financial loss caused by the global pandemic.
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Alfa Romeo was the first team of the week to reveal their 2021 car at a launch event put on by the team’s title sponsor PKN Orlen. While the car itself is largely the same as the 2020 model, thanks to the restrictions due to COVID-19, the team did opt to make changes to their livery. The rear of the car is now white with a red logo and features much less red than the prior season.
Red Bull also launched the RB16B last week. The chassis has some minor changes that the team hopes will help make the car more consistent at different circuits in the upcoming season. The livery, much to no one’s surprise, has no noticeable differences from the matte livery the team has been wearing since 2016.
Haas became the final team to confirm their 2021 livery launch date. They will show off their car’s new paint job on March 4.
Meanwhile, Alpine (formerly Renault) have confirmed that Fernando Alonso will not be be present at the team’s car launch on Tuesday March 2. The Spaniard was involved in cycling accident in Switzerland earlier this month. The team says that, “The sanitary situation and corresponding regulations in place do not allow him to do any communications and marketing activities while he undertakes his critical season preparation.” The team says that they will publish a written Q&A for the media and he will talk with the media at the pre-season test in Bahrain.
Ferrari has confirmed that team principal Mattia Binotto will skip some races in 2021, opting to stay at the team’s base and help with preparation for the 2022 car. In 2020, Binotto was absent from the Turkish and Bahrain Grand Prix as well as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix due to illness. The team claim that the absences were a trial run to see how well the team could operate with a remote team principal.
As discussed in last week’s recap, the water treatment company BWT would not be the title sponsor of the Aston Martin car, putting an end to the pink livery in F1. It was reported that the company was exploring sponsorship opportunities with Williams and Haas. But this week BWT confirmed that it will remain with Aston Martin for the 2021 season as title sponsor. However, the Aston Martin car will not be running the pink livery that BWT runs in other motorsports, instead opting for a green livery.
A financial report from Liberty Media has shown the extent of the financial damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The sport posted a $386m loss in 2020, down from their $17m profit reported the previous year. Part of the loss comes from the circuits, most of which either paid no fee to the sport or negotiated a lower one-time fee. Some sponsors did the same, due to the shorter calendar. The sport reported only $1.1b in total revenue, nearly half of the $2b reported in 2019. This financial loss as also impacted the teams, as their season payouts dropped from $1b to $711m at the end of the season.
The Weekly F1 Recap on Racing Clothesline is a series published every Monday. Each article breaks down the previous week's Formula One headlines into bite-sized pieces, perfect for casual fans to keep themselves in the loop.
