Regulations and Concorde Agreement finalised in months
Formula One CEO Chase Carey believes the key elements of the next set of regulations and commercial deals can be finalised “in the coming months.”
The changes to the engine formula have already been delayed by the four manufacturers rejected the proposals by Liberty and the FIA. But after pushing through the front wing changes to improve overtaking, Carey now has confidence that the plans can be pushed through.
After pushing through the front wing changes to improve overtaking in 2019, Carey remains confident that he can make further progress on longer-term plans. But he acknowledged that it will require compromises to be made as discussions continue with the 10 teams.
He told Motorsport.com “We’ve introduced some recent regulation changes for next season. And we’ll introduce a larger list of sporting regulation changes in the coming weeks to further improve the sport.
“Most importantly we continue to move forward with a broader set of changes to cost structures, revenue distribution, regulations and governance, the Concorde Agreement.”
He says that “good progress with the teams, agreed on the goals and objectives.” The task now for Liberty and the teams is to hammer out the final details of the agreement which expires at midnight on 1st January 2021.
Carey says there is broad agreement on the direction and vision, which they are trying to achieve. Adding “I think those are discussions at this point we’re best having with the teams in private, and when we get to the place and we finalise that we’ll be happy to discuss where we’re at and what we think the opportunity is under that revised structure.
“But since those are live discussions with the teams I’m not going to comment on that. Those are still best had in a private room between us and the teams.”
Carey admitted that one of the biggest problems is that there is no pressing deadline, with 2021 appearing to still some way down the road to the participants in the discussions.
Ricciardo left fearing number two role – Horner
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes that Daniel Ricciardo is leaving the team because he feared he would have ended up in a support role to Max Verstappen. However, Horner described the Australians move to Renault as an “enormous risk.”
Last Friday, Ricciardo shocked the paddock and Red Bull when he announced on social media that he had signed a two year deal with Renault.
In an interview with F1 Beyond The Grid, Horner said “It’s a great shame that he has chosen to leave the team. He feels Renault are in the ascendancy. I can’t help but feel he wants to be a leading role perhaps in a smaller environment.”
“Daniel said he decided after a long flight to America that he had decided he wanted a change. If you look at the rational reasons for that, it’s difficult to understand.”
Red Bull has claimed over the past three season’s that its driver line-up of Ricciardo and Verstappen is the strongest pairing on the grid. Adding that he believes that may have been a factor, because his strength is growing and that Ricciardo didn’t want to be a number two.
Speaking about trying to agree on a new deal he described it as “trying to convince a girl to go out with you who is being pretty reticent.”
Adding “We gave Daniel everything he wanted and asked for and it still wasn’t enough. We bent over backwards to make it happen.” Horner says that the team even offered a one year deal, in case Ferrari or Mercedes came asking in a years time.
Horner also admitted he was caught by surprise when his driver informed him he was departing to Red Bull’s engine providers. Saying “I thought he was winding me up to be honest when he rang me to say ‘I’m going to Renault’. I said, ‘is this a wind-up for the summer holidays’?”
“It then became very clear that was his choice and you have to respect that.”
Red Bull rules out signing Alonso
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has ruled out signing Fernando Alonso to replace Daniel Ricciardo, because of the “chaos” the Spaniard has caused where ever he has driven.
The Australian announced on Friday that he would leave Red Bull for Renault at the end of the season, meaning that the Austrian team has a place alongside Max Verstappen next season. But he says that he and the team are in no hurry to announce his replacement.
Horner was, however, was able to rule out signing Alonso, who hasn’t made a decision about his future with McLaren, saying “it’s very difficult to see [him joining Red Bull] and he’s tended to cause a bit of chaos wherever he’s gone.”
Speaking to F1’s podcast Beyond the Grid, he said “I’m not sure it would be the healthiest thing for the team for Fernando to join the team. So I think our preference is to continue to invest in youth than take a driver who is towards the end of his career.”
Red Bull have three options Brendon Hartley, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly. Gasly and Sainz are the favourites of the team because they have delivered strong performances on the track and says “both of those guys are very quick drivers.”
Horner says that when Mark Webber left the team they also considered Kimi Raikkonen, but eventually, it came down to a clear-cut decision between Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel got the nod.
“The concern we had about him then was his race craft because we hadn’t seen him race anybody. He could qualify the car alright, but ironically it turned out from the moment he got in the car he never stopped overtaking people!”
Horner says that the team has a number of options and that they are going to sit back and see what happens.
Mercedes customers shouldn’t complain about Haas
Haas’s team principal Gunther Steiner believes that Mercedes customers should not be complaining about Ferrari’s power advantage given the advantage they have had in recent years.
Mercedes have been the dominant manufacturer in terms of power unit since the introduction of the hybrids in 2014, however, over the last eighteen months, Ferrari has radically closed that gap. The Italian manufacturer is also now believed to be to be the benchmark.
The gains by Ferrari has also allowed Haas and Sauber to also move up in the midfield with the American team to be best of the rest behind the top three in most races. Steiner told Motorsport.com “ Mercedes customers shouldn’t complain because they had a very good engine the last four years.”
“The first years of these regulations, if you didn’t have a Mercedes engine, you were nowhere. Now Ferrari has overtaken them and everybody having a Ferrari engine are critiqued – ‘Oh, you’ve got the good engine’.”
Before the gains became clear there had been questions about Haas’s relationship with Ferrari after the last three new teams collapsed. Haas buys in all the non-listed parts rules, which facilitated the Haas-Ferrari relationship, have allowed Haas to be competitive at a lower cost since it joined the grid in 2016.
“These were not stupid people. It’s just a very difficult sport. We tried a different way because the regulations allow it and it seems to be working better than the others.”
“If somebody now replicates our business model, I’m fine with it. Everybody is free to do it and it’s good. If this makes the sport better, I’m happy, I’ve no problem with it.”
Grosjean believes in long-term future
Romain Grosjean has confidence that he still has the potential to have a long-term future in Formula One and hopes that he will get the opportunity to win races before he retires.
The Frenchman is out of contract at the season, however, there has been some questions over his future following a number of errors in the first half of the season. He hopes that Haas will look beyond the mistakes and look at the wider picture of what he contributes to the team.
He told ESPN “It hasn’t been a great half of the season, but it is not all about what happened in those races. Obviously, I want to be able to go back to being able to score points reasonably and not having any trouble, which I know I can.”
Grosjean admits that a move to a top or manufacturer team is unlikely, but is hoping that the next set of engine and technical regulations will mean that teams like Haas can challenge for wins in the future.
Currently, none of the drivers are prepared to commit beyond 2020, Grosjean added his future would also depend on the look of the sport under the next set of regulations.
However added, “Right now I am in a good team, I am very proud of what we have been doing over the past two and half years and I think we have got some more business to do together.”
He pointed out his career started later than most, despite half a season with Renault he was “thrown under a bus” at the end of 2009. Grosjean got a successful second chance the team when it was Lotus.
Liberty not afraid of risks – Carey
Formula One CEO Chase Carey says that Liberty Media is “not afraid of risk” when it comes to promoting future races. Instead of the traditional sanction fee model, the Miami GP will be based on a risk-sharing initiative between F1 and local promoter billionaire Stephen Ross.
The deal between Miami and Liberty is for revenue from the race to be shared, rather than the city paying a fee to F1. It will also use the race to promote the sport across the United States. However, the deal has caused some worries with existing race promoters, many of whom have already committed to expensive long-term traditional deals.
However, when asked whether the Miami risk-sharing model might be used elsewhere for new events, Carey, who says there is interest from “four continents”, didn’t rule it out.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, he explained “I think each one we’d look at in the specific terms. I think people don’t realise that frequently these events have a lot more moving parts than just a fee, there are hospitality components, sponsorship components, other components around it.”
“But you look at each on their merits. What are the direct economic benefits and certainties? We’re not afraid of risk if we believe there’s an upside to the risk. We obviously can afford that. We like having our promoters have skin in the game, it’s important to us for them to have that skin in the game and stand behind it.”
He believes that it’s not worth ripping up the current model unless the risks are worth the rewards.
Asked about next years calendar, expected to have twenty races he said “We expect to look a lot like our 2018 calendar, in the next few weeks, as we successfully finish off renewal agreements.”
