Mallya disappointed with Haas’ ‘socialist’ comment

Vijay Mallya is unimpressed that fellow midfield team Haas have urged Formula 1 not to adopt a “socialistic-type structure” when it comes to prize money distribution.

While many of Formula 1’s smaller teams are vying for a bigger share of the prize money, Haas team owner Gene Haas says that is not the way to go.

“We just have to be very very careful in how you redistribute the wealth because there are some teams at the top that have spent 50 years doing this, that have earned some entitlement to how the costs are distributed,” the American said.

“I’m not saying that the teams at the bottom don’t deserve more, but I’m still saying teams at the top deserve more.

“You can’t just arbitrarily redistribute that because quite frankly winning races should come with rewards, and it should not be a socialistic-type structure.”

His comments have not gone down well with Force India boss Mallya.

The Indian businessman has long argued that teams such as his deserve a larger share of the revenue as they need to be able to compete in order to make the sport more exciting for fans.

“I find it actually disappointing that such a new entrant in F1, who has no previous experience of owning an F1 team, makes such a profound statement,” he told Autosport.

“Anybody looking at the income distribution pattern of F1 will immediately, without even being prompted, realise how lopsided it all is.

“Clearly the DNA of F1 must include independent teams, not just manufacturer teams.

“And independent teams need to be able to be financially viable and able to compete.

“So I was particularly happy when Liberty Media and Chase Carey effectively said what Force India has been pleading for a while now: that the income distribution needs to be revisited, and adjusted to be fair to the smaller teams as well.

“For Haas to make such a profound statement, I obviously found that to be disappointing.”

He even went as far as to blame Haas’ relationship with Ferrari for the American’s comments

“It’s pretty obvious from the Haas car that they are more than just associated with Ferrari,” he added.