FIA give approval to for Liberty takeover
The FIA have unanimously approved the sale of Formula One at a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council. The sale means that the shares which are currently held by Delta Topco.
During today’s meeting the new owners set out their vision for the sport and there plans to rename the group the Formula One Group. The FIA were given the opportunity to ask questions about the agreement, the working relationship with the FIA and the company’s plans for F1.
An FIA statement said: “Liberty, Formula One Group and the FIA intend to collaborate to create a constructive relationship that will ensure the continued success and the development of the FIA Formula One World Championship in the long term.
“The World Motor Sport Council’s decision confirms the FIA’s belief that Liberty, is clearly well positioned to ensure the continued development of its pinnacle championship.
“The FIA holds a one per cent shareholding in Delta Topco [Formula 1’s parent company].
Liberty had announced before Christmas that it had cleared all regulatory hurdles and had the necessary approvals for the purchase. The US Company has three goal protection of the historic races in Europe, expansion into the Americas and to grow the sport through digital media.
Liberty move forward with purchase
Liberty Media’s shareholders have moved the US media company completed their takeover of Formula One. Liberty is to become the sport’s biggest shareholders agreed to the purchase of the sport.
Last month, Liberty said they are looking to fund there billion pound takeover of Formula One with investors. They said investors including Coatue Management LLC, D. E. Shaw and Jana Partners, had committed to the financing through a subscription for Liberty’s Series C common stock at $25 per share.
The deal still has few hurdles to go through such as UK, US and EU regulators. The WMSC is likely be a precursor to the FIA giving the necessary blessing to the Liberty takeover.
At Tuesday’s meeting, shareholders also agreed to rename the company Formula One Group. Liberty is aiming for the acquisition to close before the end of the first quarter in 2017.
Pirelli granted extra tests
Pirelli have been given permission to allow them to carry out extra wet weather testing on the new wider tyres, before official pre-season testing begins in late February.
Wet tyres have been back in the spotlight after last years rain soaked Brazilian Grand Prix, when a number of drivers complained. Regulation changes which should be agreed today saying that wet races to have a standing start from now on if they initially begin behind a safety car, have brought it back into focus.
Pirelli has been pushing to create a bespoke wet weather tyre test so it can focus on developing an improved product for the season ahead. Yesterday the Commission grated Pirelli permission to run an extra single car wet-weather test before the start of the 2017 season.
It’s understood that the two day test will use one of the mule cars, but it hasn’t been decided where this will take place.
Last week, Paul Hembery Pirelli motorsport boss said the work would be on improving the characteristics of the extreme wet tyre.
Also the commission agreed twenty five days of testing involving the majority of the teams, plus a post season test.
Mercedes remain favourites – Newey
Red Bull’s Adrian Newey says that Mercedes remain the favourites this season despite the regulation changes. This season there is more of a focus on aerodynamics, which has been Newey’s strength during his career.
When asked By Sky Sports if Mercedes started 2017 as favourites, Newey said “Unfortunately they are. They are a good team, they’ve a great engine, they’ve got consistency, so why shouldn’t they be?
“All we can do is work our way through the winter, do the best job we can of interpreting the new rules and then see where we are.” Newey despite being cautious with Mercedes, but hasn’t ruled out a shock performance from someone else
He said “It could be a completely left field team that thinks of a new way of solving these challenges from the rules and comes in at the front which is what happened in 2009 when Brawn and ourselves suddenly leapt forwards.”
McLaren set to revive orange branding
McLaren looks set for a return to the orange branding. The team are heading into a new era following the ousting of the Ron Dennis at the end of last year, with executive director Zak Brown eager to revitalise the Woking-based outfit.
Brown expertise is in marketing and sponsorship, with it becoming clear that he will be doing things differently. Speaking at Autosport International show, Brown said the team’s 2017 livery had been signed off, and he dropped a big hint about visual changes.
“We’ve shown it to the guys and girls at McLaren and we’re very excited for our future. We’ve just signed off on the car livery and I think the fans will be excited to find out what the car looks like both technically and visually” Said Brown.
Sources and a Tweet suggest that the team could be returning to its iconic orange branding. It’s unclear, if only sections of the car will be orange. The car will be officially launched at their base in Woking on the 24th February.
There were suggestions following their return to Honda power, that they could switch a red and white design, but in the end it stuck with the traditional chrome and dark grey concept that it had used since 1997.
At the time then boss Dennis said he saw no reason to change just because fans wanted the car to look better.
Haas to run parallel break programme
Haas says they will be running a parallel brake programme in winter testing to determine which manufacturer it will use on its cars in 2017. At the end of last season the team had numerous issues with their breaks supplied by Brembo.
This prompted the team to run the Carbon Iudustrie’s breaks at the race in Brazil to figure out whether the issues were being caused by Brembo or complications. Team Principal Gunther Steiner told ESPN “On the brake supplier we will do a parallel programme and then find out which way to go.”
“We are going to make a decision after Barcelona test. We are ready to use either-or for the race season, so we are prepared to have options — that was always our goal.” He added. Steiner says this isn’t about ‘ditching someone’ this is about the better options.
The regulation changes this season have complicated things for Haas which made them consider both break suppliers. Steiner added “The brakes are bigger now, the discs are wider, thicker. We just need to check the material and make sure it all works. The best way is always to have an option, if you can, and that’s what we did.”
FIA not given up on canopy
The FIA say they have not given up on the canopy cockpit protection system, but say it will only be used if the team reject the Halo. Red Bull were behind the design, and were behind trying to get it chosen in place of the halo for 2018.
However, following the decision by the FIA following tests stopped work on its development after it did not pass a rigorous test programme. Currently all the teams will be testing the halo again this year to get more of a understanding of how it works.
The majority of the drivers are in favour of the Halo, however there is devices between the team and fans about whether or not the move to use it from 2018 is a good thing.
F1 deputy race director Laurent Mekies says that the FIA is happy with how work on the Halo has progressed although its adoption now depends on what other parties decide. But, says the possibility of a canopy can’t yet be ruled out, and says the development isn’t as advanced as the halo.
Speaking at the Autosport show, Mekies said “No, it’s not dead, Technically, it’s possible, it’s maybe six months, five months away if we wanted to do that.”
“We are waiting for the final word from our bosses to know if they want the Halo, if they want the canopy, if they want something in between, or if they want something more aesthetically pleasing – even if there is a price to pay.”
“Everything is on the table. There is nothing that we consider impossible right now.” All the sport has agreed is to introduce some form of head protection in 2018.
About that process, Mekies added: “It’s a philosophical conversation. The engineering work is done. Somebody needs to decide if it’s right for F1 or not; if it’s compatible with the DNA.”
