Why does an F1 driver need a manager?

As a general rule, the manager takes a young rider under his wing from almost karting and completely organizes his career. Nowadays, driver managers are full-fledged inhabitants of the paddock like drivers or mechanics. In today’s Formula 1, there is a lot, a lot of money. And as we all know, the transfer of money from one hand to the other in exchange for goods or services is a market. The market needs sales specialists.

The first Formula 1 driver to have a personal manager was Juan Manuel Fangio. The Argentine changed teams almost every year and received a lot of money for his performances at the time. And one of the first professional agents was none other than Bernie Ecclestone. He was involved in Stuart Lewis Evans’ affairs in the fifties. Subsequently, Bernie helped build a career for Jochen Rindt and some other drivers.

With the marketing of Formula 1, there were more and more managers. But somehow, their task has always remained more commercial than sportive. Remember the crazy seasons of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in the McLaren team, you might wonder why their managers weren’t involved in the showdown between the two great drivers. But first and foremost, in those years, it couldn’t even have crossed anyone’s mind. And secondly, they had only one manager – Julian Jacobi. The Scot is rightly considered one of the most successful agents of all time. In addition to the two world champions, Jacques Villeneuve and Juan-Pablo Montoya also enlisted his services. And today, he takes care of Sergio Perez’s business, and it must be admitted, he does it rather well. Not so long ago, the media reported how Perez had sued for $2.8 million against a former sponsor. The Mexican oil and gas state company terminated Sergio’s contract earlier than expected while he was racing for Racing Point.

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It took six months for his manager Willi Weber to get Michael Schumacher into the Jordan car cockpit. And after a brilliant start, he immediately resold him to Benetton. And the subsequent resale at Ferrari brought the driver and his manager colossal profits. Weber may be considered the founder of the new generation of motorsport management. When the manager is not just a financial advisor, but a guarantor of the driver’s entire career. Indeed, for example, Ralf Schumacher owes even more to Weber than to Michael. The Schumacher brand was so profitable that it was simply a sin not to bring another product to the market under this brand. In those years, Willi Weber mentioned so often that the younger brother was no less talented than the elder that team bosses believed him. Frank Williams agreed to pay $12 million a year to an allegedly promising German. At the same time, his then-partner Juan-Pablo Montoya, who was much faster than Schumacher on the track, was paid three times less.

Nowadays, drivers often rely on cooperation with their relatives. Perhaps out of fear of being deceived by negligent commercial service providers. For example, Carlos Sainz’s manager, Carlos Onoro, is his cousin. And Max Verstappen’s team is led by his father Jos, who successfully uses his son’s popularity in their home country, the Netherlands. The business is not limited to selling brand products and sponsorship; the family has recently opened a travel agency and now offers tours of the Formula 1 World Championship circuit stages.

But there are exceptions, Sebastian Vettel is a striking example. Officially, the German does not have a manager and it is because he was a member of the Red Bull development program for thirteen years, where Helmut Marko often helped him. Leaving for Ferrari, Vettel was a four-time world champion and therefore did not really need anyone to negotiate contracts for him.

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A personal manager is particularly important for a beginner, former Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi talks about it in the press. The Japanese believes that the main weakness of his compatriot Yuki Tsunoda is the lack of a good manager.

(I) I am not worried. I think he can do well, but he needs to have a very good manager! Yes, he needs a manager for future contracts because he can achieve good results, but he may also make mistakes. With mistakes, he needs to have someone to explain well to the team. He needs a filter to manage himself.