The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| British GP organisers wary of ‘Vettel effect’ Posted: 01 May 2013 08:43 AM PDT  Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany celebrates with the winner's trophy during the victory ceremony of the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix April 21, 2013. — Reuters picSILVERSTONE (England), May 1 — British Formula One Grand Prix organisers are counting on Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button producing the goods in the next few races to boost ticket sales dented by a 'Vettel effect'. Sebastian Vettel has won the last three championships in succession for Red Bull and the 25-year-old German leads the standings again as the only driver to have won twice in four races so far. McLaren's Button, the last world champion before Vettel, has finished no higher than fifth this season while Hamilton, the 2008 champion, has had two third places since he moved to Mercedes. Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips said on Wednesday that ticket sales for the June 30 race were down nearly 10 percent on last year, when 297,000 people attended over the three days despite flooded campsites and torrential downpours. "If you look at the cycle on selling tickets...on the Monday after a grand prix Sunday you tend to see a spike. The weekend we had Lewis on the podium there was a spike and when you see Vettel there is less of a spike," he told Reuters, referring to demand for tickets for the British Grand Prix. "I think the needle-movers (for sales) are going to be basically 'not Vettel'. Britain had the biggest crowd of the season last year, with a record race day attendance of 127,000 and more people turning out on a Friday than on a Sunday in some parts of the world where Formula One has no tradition. Eight of the 11 teams are based in Britain, including champions Red Bull, and last year saw seven different winners in the first seven races. Former Formula One driver Derek Warwick, president of circuit owners the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), said the success of the British pair was crucial. "When we know that Lewis and Jenson are coming into the grand prix off the back of a couple of wins, we see a massive spike in our sales," he said. Phillips said they had probably reached the break-even point but the circuit needed to exceed that comfortably to recover some of the 40 million pound ($62.26 million) investment made on improvements in the past five years. Hundreds of thousands have been spent since last year's 'wake-up call', with improved drainage to campsites, ditches re-profiled and park and ride spaces added. BRDC chairman Stuart Rolt said the search for outside investors to help fund development was continuing after an exclusivity agreement with an unidentified partner, believed to be a Qatar-based group, ended last year. "We are still talking to people very positively and we keep going," he said. "There is no threat to the grand prix if we don't find an investor, everything just slows down..." Rolt said the process had been frustrating due to the difficult economic climate, and a clash between what property developers wanted and the aims of the BRDC, but hoped "to get something done" this year. He would not give details about any potential partners. — Reuters |
| Swiss bank account unrelated to Bayern, says club boss Hoeness Posted: 01 May 2013 08:42 AM PDT  Hoeness arrives at the car park ahead of the Champions League semi-final first leg match against Barcelona at Arena stadium in Munich April 23, 2013. - Reuters picBERLIN, May 1 — A Swiss bank account held by Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, who is under investigation for suspected tax evasion, is unrelated to the Bundesliga champions, he said on Wednesday. Hours before his team take on Barcelona in Spain for their Champions League semi-final second leg, Hoeness said the club had nothing to do with the account under investigation, which was used only for "stock market gambling" and financed by the late Richard-Louis Dreyfus, a former head of sports manufacturer Adidas. "From 2002 to 2006 I was really gambling (with stocks)," Hoeness told Zeit newspaper. "I sometimes traded day and night with sums that are now difficult to comprehend. Some of those amounts were extreme. "This gave me a kick, pure adrenaline," said Hoeness, who has been under mounting pressure to step down. The former Bayern player and long-time club general manager is under investigation for tax evasion after he filed a complaint against himself earlier this month. there are no details of the amounts in question. Authorities can to offer some leniency in cases where individuals name themselves as tax evaders. Hoeness, whose professional as well as personal reputation has been damaged by the affair, said his house had been searched in March as part of the probe. "My life changed on March 20 at seven in the morning. I stood there in a bathrobe and the prosecutor was at the door. That is when hell started for me." Hoeness said he began gambling bigger amounts before the dotcom bubble burst. But after it burst he had been given money from the late Dreyfus in 2001. "He said 'let's do something together', he would finance it," Hoeness said. "That is how the millions came on to the account. It was always clear it was an account for (stock market) gambling. This account was only Uli Hoeness." He said the 2008 financial crisis led him to gamble much less. "I am also now older. I am 61," Hoeness said.— Reuters |
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