in 2009, Kimi Raikkonen was reported as being worth an estimated £29,670.33 per lap, and whilst that salary is not entirely reflective, incorporating as it does the contract buy-out fee that Ferrari used to secure the services of one Fernando Alonso, it does leave us at the Sett wondering just what Ferrari could have better spent their money on in 2010.
Well for one thing, they could have secured the services of 2010 World Champion Jenson Button. But why, when discussing such ostentatious sums, should we confine ourselves to reality? For 26.4 million, the Scuderia could have purchased precisely eight Jensons, which would have left a few fresh versions for when he got a bit tired towards the end of the year.
Of course, if the Prancing Horse didn’t want to go down the world champion route they could have bought say Rubens Barrichello and Coulthard’s RB3, raced at Silverstone in 2007 for just £765,000 combined, with more than enough change left over to purchase the picturesque village of Linkenholt in Hampshire. We’re not saying that they’d use the car/driver pairing to run interference at Grands Prix, but well, it would have been darned more interesting than watching Luca Badoer’s efforts. On the other hand, just what Ferrari would have used Linkenholt for, is beyond the imagination of this writer. Completely beyond.
All that being said, Ferrari could have formed its own breakaway series as it had threatened to do and purchased 80, yes 80 A1GP-spec, Scuderia-powered cars for a cool 22 million British pounds. But why bother with that, when you can quite literally reach for the stars. For a mere £15 million we could have had a Ferrari satellite, opening up new realms of inter-team spying accusations.
Regardless, and as they say in Scorsese films, “What’s done is done”. Ferrari did spend that $27million on Kimi, and in the end, no one made them. What Badger has done, somewhat retrospectively is highlight some of the… better investments Scuderia Ferrari Malboro could have made…
Any other ideas out there on what Ferrari could have spent the cash on?
