First, congratulations to Sebastien Vettel for winning the Italian Grand Prix. It was a master drive and he sure as heck didn't put a foot wrong.
As well, this is the first time since the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix that the two anthems at the end were of Germany and Italy, respectively, and it was for a fellow by the name of Michael Schumacher. Anybody remember that guy?
But what was bothersome for me was the trophy that was presented at the end. It was eerily shaped in the logo of a bank that shall remain unnamed. I don't want to poo-poo Vettel's moment because I think he earned this through a lot of hard work and dedication, but this is rather bothersome.
Sure, sponsorship contracts dictate how much airtime sponsor x receives and how much coverage they should get, but come on, shaping your trophies to that company's logo? I think that's pushing into the sacred.
We all know that Formula 1 is a business, and a very lucrative one too. Bernie Ecclestone makes more money than I care to imagine at each race!
With this bank-that-shall-not-be-named sponsoring a couple of races this year, it brings a lot of airtime to this company, more money to Bernie, and has prompted me to invest in shares through the fantasy stock exchange that I participate in, even though it was a terrible idea!
Three events were sponsored so far by this bank and two of them had this logo-shaped trophy. In my opinion, that's not cool! I would very much rather keep the trophies for these old and historical tracks to keep that historical feel.
Think about it like this: Sebastien Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix in Monza today, and he has followed in the steps of Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and many others; he should get some similar hardware to commemorate that as a sort of connection to the past.
This isn't Nascar where sponsorship is quite possibly the biggest catalyst. Everything that had to do with Formula 1 was seen as an art, which includes the trophies that were presented at the end; from the crystal vase in Montreal to the silver steering wheel in Budapest.
Without the need for a trophy shaped like this logo, I still know of this bank's existence, I still know of the services they offer, and I still know what the logo looks like because it's pasted everywhere during the race broadcasts. Logos are fine, but please let the trophies be trophies.
29 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Anne Doe 9 months ago
Yeah I noticed that. If I were Vettel, i'd request another trophy. Who wants an advert for Santander in their trophy cabinet?
I hope the Hungarian GP ones stay the same though. They are beautiful, and haven't been taken over by any companies yet.
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Ryan Wood 9 months ago
I hope the hungarian trophies stay the same as well, but hang on, ther traditional, but certainly not beautiful. Ugliest, most fowl thing iv'e layed eyes on. Eugh!
anyway thats besides the point, trophies should be traditional, and never become sponsorship items.
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Anne Doe 9 months ago
I'd be proud to have the Hungarian GP trophy in a trophy cabinet.
To be honest though, I'd be overjoyed with any GP trophy (even that Santander one).
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Ryan Wood 9 months ago
oh haha, dnt get me wrong, i'd love 2 have 1, i just think ther a little ugly. or not to my taste maybe.
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Gail Mrs Gray 9 months ago
I love all there trophies they are wonderful, i wouldnt mind seeing them and holding them.
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Long John Silver 9 months ago
yo - you live in the 21st century
advertisement and sponsorship DRIVES sport - and provides entertainment
nothing sacred - thats the way the WORLD WORKS !
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Sheiban Shakeri 9 months ago
Nothing wrong with advertising and sport, just don't push it onto the trophies. It really doesn't matter if they put the main sponsor's name in the title of the Grand Prix, it doesn't bug me when they have the main sponsor's logo behind the drivers on the podium, it's all good. Formula One is always changing, always evolving, but at least keep the trophies presented as a symbol of what happened...
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Benedict Echavez 9 months ago
That's capitalism for you. Sad, but true. But i see your point entirely, who'd really like to have what's basically an ad as a reminder of a great achievement?
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Crabber 1967 . 9 months ago
WELL!
The F-1 circus has been a money making machine for Bernie for how long now? The Formula One crowd has done a pretty good job deluding themselves into thinking that it's still all about the racing.
Sponsors have been providing trophies for a long time [at least outside of F-1].
The Chinese GP trophy is decent looking, compared to some of the atrocities I've seen elsewhere. Of course the sponsors aren't the only ones responsible for horrid trophies.
In NASCAR, that Texas boot from the track in Texas makes me shiver, and to top it off they have the race winner don a cowboy hat and fire cowboy pistols [I pray for blanks] in the air. UGH!
The trophies that Bass Pro Shops have awarded for the races they have sponsored have been true one-of-a-kind works of art, and quite outstanding. Such works of art as leaping fish and a huge depiction of a bear that was taller than the winner of the race.
So while some NASCAR fans would like to believe the hype that "it's all about the racing", many of us realize that for NASCAR it's all about NASCAR making money first, with racing literally as "The Show.".
Trophies as "extensions of the sponsorship"? Welcome to the real world!
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Sheiban Shakeri 9 months ago
That's a fair point Crabber. I have to admit that some Nascar trophies are wonderful and awe-inspiring.
IMO, trophies shouldn't be allowed as extensions of the sponsorship because tracks have character. I mean, look at Daytona, Indy or Talladega: each of them has a certain character to the track, and while Nascar has taken the world by storm recently, it should also remember its roots. I think that this series is too far gone with regards to stopping trophies as being extensions of the sponsors, but I'd hate to see F1 follow the same path...
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
The Martinsville trophy is a 6 foot Grandfather's Clock...Richard Petty won 15 of them.
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sim mor 9 months ago
Pfft... old news... correct me if I'm wrong but I distinctly remember Senna lifting a golden Sonic (the Hedgehog) trophy after his wet win at Donnington in 1993. Nothing has changed. I thought it was a bit nuts then and, in comparison, this seems mild. Purely a matter of opinion... especially if you don't know what the Santander logo looks like.
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James Walker 9 months ago
It's been going on for a lot of the European GP's this season and I agree, it doesn't seem right. To me each trophy should be unique, perhaps thats a bit of a romantic point of view but every country has its own unique charm and character, these should be shown in the trophies.
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Billy Sexton 9 months ago
its disgusting in my opinion. sponsers have all that space on the car and in the race title, back wall of the podium etc. and they have to change the trophies aswell. i don't mind the tropies for fairly new races (malaysia, bahrain, valencia) being sponsers because they have no tradition but monza for the love of god, its the most historic circuit on the calender. as long as hungary, britain, monaco and spa trophies dont change then f1 has not been totally consumed by sponsers
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Billy Sexton 9 months ago
sorry for spelling sponsor wrong so many times... i'm a 21st century kid, used to spellcheck :p
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Sheiban Shakeri 9 months ago
Agreed with you there Billy. However, I would like to see the new races also show something cultural with their trophies. For example, falconry is considered a sport in Bahrain and is seen as something cultural. If they were to give a falcon trophy, wouldn't that be cool? How about Valencia, what can be considered the capital of sailing?
I'm ok with the sponsor's logo on the engraving plate of the trophy, but don't make the trophy into the logo, even for new races...
thanks for bearing with me :)
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Crabber 1967 . 9 months ago
Very true that the trophy at Martinsville has been a clock for many years. The track management decided to use the clock, as it was a local product. This was a kind of "reverse sponsorship" as the track owners were using their trophies as an 'advertisement' for a local industry! (If memory serves, the clock is a "Grandmother" clock which is a bit smaller than the traditional Grandfather clock.)
For those who remember the Daytona 500 win of Dale Earnhardt, that year was actually the first year that that trophy was awarded. (I've seen photos of Richard Petty in the Daytona 500 Winner's Circle, years before, with a trophy nothing like the one now used. This photo is the one with the Japanese woman in traditional dress standing next to him. Why the Japanese lady? I have no idea!)
I remember that when the photographers asked Earnhardt to hold the trophy over his head, he could barely manage to hoist it over his head, because it was so heavy! The large wooden base was apparently solid, thus the weight. I'm sure the later editions awarded to the drivers have a hollow base, as I've never seen any subsequent winners at Daytona having any trouble raising the trophy over their head.
The permanent version of this trophy has all the Daytona 500 winners names on it, and is quite large. I'm surprised that Big Bill France didn't think of such a permanent trophy while he was still alive, as he built the track at the same size of Indy to make a venue that would rival Indianapolis. And he certainly would have loved to have a trophy that would rival the Borg-Warner Trophy!
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
My bad, Petty only has 12 of them, Gordon has 7 as the 'active' leader...but they are the 'Big Grand Daddys" as you can see here;
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/07PR/031507PR2.asp
That's a great page to file away somewhere eh?
Crabby Man...how do you like our new Dover trophy?
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Crabber 1967 . 9 months ago
Thanks for the link L.J. !!!
The Ridgeway Clocks are fabulous!
The Dover 'Concrete Monster' trophy is really great. And since I built quite a few model cars in my younger days, the fact that the Monster holds a die-cast of the winning car in its hand makes it Way Cool in my mind.
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
Do you come up for Dover?
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Keith Collantine 9 months ago
What's more, the regulations actually say trophies should be "traditional cups", yet this seems to have been ignored: http://tinyurl.com/5f56wz
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Claudia Jost 9 months ago
Were you sleeping during the last podium ceremonies?
Italy wasn't the first race those Santander trophys were handed out. I remember at least Silverstone and Hockenheim where the drivers were awarded a logo-shaped trophy.
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Sheiban Shakeri 9 months ago
Actually I was.
In my timezone, F1 is too early on a Sunday morning to watch. Anyhow, that's beside the point. I saw the Hockenheim trophy for the first time and thought that if it was a one-off thing, then it wouldn't be an issue. However, after seeing it at the Italian Grand Prix as well, then I started getting a little edgy...
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6782&Itemid=219
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Crabber 1967 . 9 months ago
Wow! Thanks for the link! ...and Bleacher Report gets a 'plug'! Neat!
What's really interesting about this link is the photo of the trophy. That photo shows a very good look at the form of the trophy. If you look at this photo, you will see that the Logo in question is inside a [small] cup. So it looks like a [very large] flame in a small vessel. If it was the real thing, it would certainly break fire regulations in most countries!
So it looks like the trophy may have met the "letter of the law" but certainly NOT the "spirit of the law."
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Sheiban Shakeri 9 months ago
Oh. My. God.
I cannot, will not, should not believe that! It's all thanks to you guys for commenting and saying it like it is :)
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
You da man Sheiban.
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
You da man Sheiban.
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M 9 months ago
If McLaren Mercedes can survive a $100million fine, F1 can survive without letting ridiculous BS like this continue. Whatever happened to the cups, dishes and statues in the shapes of beautiful women? Even a guitar or grandfather clock (NASCAR) is acceptable. Maybe I'll sponsor a GP and make the trophy into the shape of a big middle finger.
Way to tackle those corporate fatheads.
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