News & Press

2009-12-18

D&B Formula 1 credit check: Toyota world champion at D&B F1 Index

Even though Toyota has determined its Formula 1 commitment: the team has financially a clean record. According to an international assessment carried out by D&B Deutschland, the business information service, the former employer of F1 race driver Timo Glock takes first place on the D&B F1 index, with 99 points, at the end of 2009 season. The Japanese team takes the unofficial title “D&B F1 Index world champion” due to their excellent payment performance. Toyota payed their invoices five days before the contractually agreed date.

Williams comes just behind with 99 points like Toyota. The rating is due mainly to the fact that D&B does not only take real payment experiences into account but also demographic and financial data. Behind these teams come BMW Sauber (97), Renault (95) und Toro Rosso (92 points).

Top-Teams rank in the middle – McLaren the last but one

In contrast, those winning and famous teams are not very fast paying their invoices. Ferrari (84 points) comes before Red Bull (83 Punkte). Even title holder Brawn GP (82 points) pays 14 days later than the due date. At McLaren (51 points) the delay is as much as 26 days despite still partner Mercedes.
Fortunately for the suppliers, the financial and economy crisis did not affect the payment willingness of the F1 teams in comparison to the season’s start. Almost all teams improved their payment performance.

Force India still in a class of its own

The team Force India of Indian businessman Vijay Mallya brings up the rear with the lousiest payment performance (3 points). According to an assessment of payment experiences carried out under the D&B DunTrade® program, suppliers had to wait 66 days after the contractually agreed due date before receiving payment from Force India. However, in comparison to the beginning of the year, suppliers had to wait 75 days for their money. This performance seems to be only accepted as Mallya will continue to inject millions to keep Force India alive.

2010 a promising season with 13 teams

The first season lead by the new FIA-president Jean Todt promises to be less expensive for the participating teams and more interesting for the fans. Despite budget limits, the financial basis of four new teams is not clear yet. Campos from Spain, Manor from England and the American Team US-F1 were already selected from various applicants by the FIA during summer. In September, the new Lotus team from Malaysia followed which took over BMW-Sauber-F1 position. Sauber starts as the 13th team because of Toyota’s withdrawal. They hope to succeed financially without BMW’s support.

Racing stable

Head office

D&B F1 Index 2009

pays x days after due date

Toyota Motorsport GmbH

Germany

99

5 days before  due date

Williams Grand Prix Engineering LTD

United Kingdom

99

15

BMW Sauber AG

Switzerland

97

n/a

Renault F1 Team LTD

United Kingdom

95

3

Scuderia Toro Rosso SPA

Italy

92

0

Ferrari SPA

Italy

84

14

Red Bull Racing LTD

United Kingdom

83

8

Brawn GP LTD

United Kingdom

82

14

McLaren Racing LTD

United Kingdom

51

26

Force India Fomula One Team LTD

United Kingdom

3

66

Source: D&B Deutschland: as of 30th November 2009

The D&B F1 index is a statistically determined value used to assess the likelihood of a company failing. To carry out its calculations D&B uses demographic and financial data as well as real payment experiences. On a scale of 1 - 100 an index value of 1 represents an extremely high risk of failure, while a value of 100 represents minimum risk.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Christian Noack
Manager Public Relations
D&B Deutschland GmbH
Havelstraße 9
64295 Darmstadt
T: +49 6151 1375 736
F: +49 6151 1375 99 736
M: +49 175 7237786
noack@dnbgermany.de
www.dnbgermany.de