‘F1 should seize chance to redress imbalances’

Michelle Foster
Carlos-Sainz testing pa

Carlos-Sainz testing pa

The signing of Formula 1’s new Concorde Agreement is on hold with Formula E boss Alejandro Agag urging the sport to seize the opportunity to “shake down the whole system”.

After months of negotiations, Liberty Media had hoped to get the first signatures on a new Concorde Agreement in April.

That’s on hold.

With the 2020 season yet to begin and teams facing financial ruin, 2021’s regulations are no longer set in stone.

Not only have the teams agreed to defer what would have been the new 2021 technical regulations to 2022 but they have also announced that they will race this year’s chassis next season.

The budget cap has also dropped from $175 million to $150m with some teams wanting a further reduction.

The sport is now debating what else can be frozen with FIA president Jean Todt revealing there could be a two-tier budget cap for those who develop and those who buy.

Agag believes F1 has been handed an opportunity to completely overhaul the sport and address its imbalances.

He told Autosport: “I think generally for motorsport this could be an opportunity.

“And specifically for Formula 1, this could be a massive opportunity to restructure the whole model.

“Maybe it’s an opportunity for all the teams to share revenue on the same amounts.

“I’m also hearing of budget caps of $125m, something like that, why not a cost cap of $75m and make it really profitable for everybody?

“It might be a good thing that the Concorde Agreement has not been signed yet, because it had all the original things that are kind of a burden for F1, with some teams making so much and some teams so little.

“The imbalance is huge in the Concorde Agreement. Maybe this gives an opportunity to completely shake down the whole system.”

Agag reckons the way Formula 1 hands out prize money should also be up for debate.

“I don’t think it’s normal that teams that compete in the same race receive completely different amounts of money,” he added.

“Compared to the football Premier League for example: If you look at the amount of money the winner gets compared to the last one it’s nowhere near the difference in money that the top teams receive.

“So that’s the new deal and it’s a big opportunity.

“And if people don’t realise that the world is going to be different after Coronavirus then they make a big mistake.

“The opportunity is there and people need to take it. We aren’t part of that, we will do our little new deal following.

“I’m not in F1 or running it, and it is run by very capable people, and I’m sure they are thinking about all these things.

“But I would use this as a major correction of the business principles of F1. So it could be s very interesting opportunity.”

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