As the sport awaits details of its owners plans for it post-2020, the engine regulations and such things as the budget cap and revenue share yet to be proposed, far less agreed, Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes that Liberty Media must work together with the FIA or risk "vanilla" regulations.

"Liberty's biggest challenge is how to address the future, how to address 2021," says the Briton. "The problem, and the risks that I see, is if the FIA and the promoter aren't fully aligned, we end up with compromises and vanilla-type regulations.

"I think there needs to be a real clarity going forward as to what the sport is going to be, what are the regulations going to be, that both parties ultimately have to buy into?

"Liberty have paid $8billion for this sport," he continued. "They've got to turn it into something that's even more attractive. That's fantastic racing.

"Obviously there are cost issues, there's revenue issues that need dealing with," he admits. "The FIA, obviously as the governing body, they've got to be fully-aligned with that, and what concerns us is discussions of where things are going with engines, where things are going with chassis regulations. Everything seems to be getting watered down somewhat from what the initial concept is. So, I think the next 500 days are going to be very telling for life, post-2020."

Asked if he too fears that unless Liberty and the FIA completely agree, the regulations could end up "vanilla", not for the first time, Toto Wolff admitted that he doesn't completely agree with his Red Bull counterpart.

"If you look at the objectives, Christian and mine are maybe a little bit different," he admitted. "We would like to have a little bit more emphasis on the power unit and Christian on the chassis, but that maybe changes. But I think transparency and a clear path is important.

"We need to know what's happening in 2021, what the regs look like on the power unit side and on the chassis side in order to get things moving and avoid a cost escalation, a cost rush last minute. That is important.

"I hope that with this week's meeting, we have a little bit more understanding and input and then we see where it ends up," he added, referring to Wednesday's meeting of the strategy group.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by JClark-Monza1967, 03/07/2018 18:28

"Yes, the teams should give a bit of input but since they are incapable of putting aside any bit self interest, they should not be involved in decisions re: the rules. Period.

And also I'm tired of hearing the big teams arguing that losing staff jobs is a reason for not implementing budget caps. Yes, I feel for anyone that gets laid off but it's simple: F1 cannot survive, let alone flourish, at these spending levels. The teams chose to throw hundreds of millions at the sport and it's on them. It's not Liberty's responsibility to sustain that madness."

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2. Posted by Ro, 03/07/2018 15:49

"well they havnt done it yet, have they?"

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3. Posted by imejl99, 03/07/2018 14:32

"@TedS

as far as I can remember, rules were changing every year. Every innovation banned. If not, everyone would eventually come to, more or less, same car. In my opinion, it is not the rules, it is how much one can or wish to spend to make a car. Cost control and slightly loosed rules could result in better racing, probably. But it is hardest thing, cost control.

One quote from The Wire often crosses my mind - You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don’t know where the f... it’s gonna take you
– Det. Lester Freamon "

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4. Posted by TedS, 03/07/2018 11:00

"This is why the teams don't need a say in the rules. Make the rules, the teams will either come or go. Yes you need them to go racing, but they also need the series if they want to go racing.

At the end of the day it is up to F1 to create a playground that can, on occasion, produce good racing. It is up to the teams to build the best car they can. If they open up the regs just a bit allowing for differentiation between the teams on several fronts the first few years of that (before the teams start to settle in on the same solution, which they will) can be unpredictable... unless you make the rules about one part of the car alone (hello V6 Hybrid rules)"

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Horner fears "vanilla" regulations

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