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Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted May 8, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Nico Rosberg has taken pole position for the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya; ending his team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s run of pole positions this season. Hamilton had to settle for second ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Carlos Sainz was the fastest Spanish driver in his home weekend, with the rookie qualifying 5th. Fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso also had a change in fortune as he made it into the second session along with team-mate Jenson Button.
Q1:
The drivers were faced with a 45 degree track temperature as the first session of qualifying began. Nico Rosberg topped the final practice session earlier on in the day, with his performances so far this weekend providing hope that he could challenge his team-mate for pole position.
In the past few years, all the attention of the crowd at the Circuit de Catalunya would have been on Spaniard Fernando Alonso. This weekend however, the crowd didn’t seem as fanatical about Fernando; possibly due to the lack of possibility of a race win due to the McLaren-Honda’s troubles. Instead, the leading Spanish driver was Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso, who led the time-sheets at the beginning of the session before the front runners emerged.
Nico Rosberg was the first of the title contenders to set a time, with Lewis Hamilton following him through a few seconds later to go 3 tenths quicker with a 1’27.322. Vettel and Raikkonen also joined them, with Vettel going 3rd and Raikkonen somewhat disappointingly down in 7th after complaining of no grip at the rear of the car.
Kvyat and Ricciardo had been suffering with their ever present reliability issues during practice, with Kvyat onto his 4th and final allocated engine already; with the threat of penalties not too far on the horizon. The Red Bull pair were running in Q1, with early efforts placing Ricciardo 8th and Kvyat in the drop-zone in 16th.
As the session drew to a close, a number of drivers re-emerged for a lap on the faster compound to ensure themselves of a space in Q2. This included Kimi Raikkonen, who had finished 2nd last time out in Bahrain. The Finn soon jumped up to 2nd on the time-sheets, with team-mate Vettel following him soon after to take 3rd.
There had been brief concerns that the two Manor drivers would be unable to qualify within the 107% rule during practice, but both Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were well within the limit in Q1 to assure themselves that they would start in 19th and 20th. Joining them in elimination would disappointingly be the two Force India drivers, with Marcus Ericsson taking the final spot in the bottom five for Sauber.
Impressively for McLaren, both cars were able to qualify for the second session, with Button and Alonso advancing in 13th and 15th respectively in their newly liveried cars.
Out in Q1:
POS | Driver | Team | Time |
16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’28.112 |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1’28.365 |
18 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’28.442 |
19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1’31.200 |
20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1’32.038 |
Q2:
The green flag waved for the start of Q2, but the drivers elected to wait a few moments before heading out onto the track. Almost all the drivers flooded out at the same time, with Lewis Hamilton being told to just ‘do enough’ to get through to the next session rather than give it his all. He put in a 1’25.740 on the tyres that he will start the race with tomorrow, whilst team-mate Rosberg came through a few moments later to go fastest by half a second with a time that would have gotten him pole position last year by 0.066 of a second.
The top 5 drivers elected not to make a second run in the session, with Rosberg, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel and Bottas staying in the garage. The remaining 10 drivers came out for a second stab at improvement.
Fernando Alonso was 11th after his first run and was just outside of position he needed to get into the top 10 shoot-out. There would be no improvement for the #14 car on his second run however as he would remain in 11th before being pushed down by the two Lotus drivers; with Romain Grosjean just missing out on 10th.
Alonso’s team-mate couldn’t advance either, with Jenson Button joining Fernando, the two Lotuses and Felipe Nasr in elimination. Red Bull managed to get through into the final session; an impressive performance given their troubles during practice. They would take 9th and 10th in the session just behind the Toro Rosso pair of Sainz and Verstappen.
Out in Q2:
POS | Driver | Team | Time |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1’27.375 |
12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1’27.450 |
13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’27.760 |
14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’27.854 |
15 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1’28.005 |
Q3:
The battle for pole position looked to be closer than it has so far this year. Nico Rosberg had shown good pace through practice and qualifying, but Lewis Hamilton had been told not to give it 100% in the previous session, so there was still pace to come from the #44 driver.
Lewis Hamilton was the first of the pair to complete his first of two flying laps, with the Briton coming through with a 1’24.948. He wouldn’t hold the top-spot for long however, with Nico Rosberg coming through to go two tenths quicker with the fastest time of the weekend. Sebastian Vettel also put in an impressive lap to get within a second of the Mercedes pair.
The track temperature rose slightly between the drivers’ first and second runs; thus making it a slightly harder prospect for Hamilton to usurp his team-mate from the provisional pole position to take his 5th consecutive pole this year. All ten drivers emerged onto the track with just enough time to make one final flying lap each.
Kimi Raikkonen was the first front-runner to come through, with the Finn improving up to only 5th place behind his fellow countryman Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton was next through, but a lacklustre first second meant that there was no chance for him to continue his run of taking every pole position this year. Sebastian Vettel couldn’t improve either, which meant that for a 3rd year in a row, Mercedes would lock out the front-row, with Nico Rosberg taking his first pole position of the season.
Sebastian Vettel held onto 3rd place behind the two Silver Arrows cars, with Valtteri Bottas putting in a good lap to take 4th. As previously mentioned, Raikkonen had improved into P5, but he was soon pushed down the order to 7th after impressive laps for home-hero Carlos Sainz and team-mate Max Verstappen. Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo took 8th and 10th in the session, with Felipe Massa sandwiched in-between for Williams.
2015 Spanish Grand Prix grid:
POS | Driver | Team | Time |
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’24.681 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’24.948 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’25.458 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1’25.694 |
5 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1’26.136 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1’26.249 |
7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’26.414 |
8 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1’26.629 |
9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’26.757 |
10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’26.770 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1’27.375 |
12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1’27.450 |
13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’27.760 |
14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’27.854 |
15 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1’28.005 |
16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’28.112 |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1’28.365 |
18 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’28.442 |
19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1’31.200 |
20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1’32.038 |
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
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