you are forgetting McLaren... They are bribed like crazy only beaten by Ferrari and they are not winning. McLaren is the real manure team of F1 all the bribe money and no results. Could even afford going without a main sponsor for half a year because they got money anyway even if they end up dead last
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System is just wrong there is no way to defend it. Base it entirely on performance and scrap the awful bribing system that some old teams managed to secure for themselves. If they can´t compete without legacy money because they can´t win they have no place in F1.
...man you must really hate McLaren. To a degree, things are based on performance - teams make more if they finish higher. They make less if they finish lower.
Let's be fair by the current "type" of standards: Ferrari gets 5% just for being Ferrari. In that case, McLaren should be entitled to a hefty payment for bringing a lot of technology to the table that's now taken for granted (carbon fiber, for instance, that has a huge impact on competitiveness, development, AND safety). They don't whine about it.
But the bottom line is that Ferrari is the only team that's universally given freebies simply based on who they are. They're the only ones. I don't like it either, but rather than gnash my teeth I simply gloat quietly when they lose.
I don't like it, but don't mind it awfully, that teams with a longer history get paid more. What I absolutely detest is when they start making exceptions to those rules just to please some random team who's decided to paint their cars red. You want to apply silly exceptions to all teams, it's much better. McLaren gets a chunk for their carbon fiber (when other constructors poo-pood the idea of it), Sauber, sure, make an exception for Sauber: They were previously owned by BMW F1, and BMW's have a propeller logo - and we all know that propellers spin in a circle just like the tires on the race car that Ferrari makes.... my point is the whole idea of Let's Make Rules, No Wait Let's Break The Rules For Ferrari is hugely unfair and horrendously stupid and if you're going to point fingers and complain, make it a logical issue. No offense. McLaren is perhaps the most invested, inventive, and most dedicated team in the history of F1.
What separates real F1 teams from upstart F1 teams is that ,especially Williams and McLaren, race because it's in their genes. Ferrari, Mercedes, all the teams that have come and gone as mere marketing testbeds, are in it for the money. Dietrich threw his toys around and wanted to go home simply because he wasn't winning. Mercedes has come right out and said they're in it as a marketing investment to improve the brand status of their road cars. Ferrari has threatened to leave altogether if they don't get money...these aren't teams interested in heritage or racing, why pay them a premium? But that's how it is. I don't like Williams, but at least they're in it for the right reason and they don't sit and cry when things don't go their way. Like Ferrari.
/rant. I just had coffee.