10/04/2019
NEWS STORY
Days before the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, the teams were presented with the vision for F1's future beyond 2020, in terms of the technical regulations and the financial side of things.
The presentation came a year after the teams were given the basic outline for the sport in 2021, and with the June deadline fast approaching, the teams were asked if progress has been made in the intervening twelve months.
"They made some steps forward, on the sporting regulations side as well as on the technical regulations side there are some really good ideas," said Franz Tost. "From the commercial side, there are also some changes.
"I think they are on the right way," he continued, "but time is now becoming a crucial factor because we have to decide - or they have to decide - now, the final version of all these different topics within the next half of the year - and I hope that they will do this."
"We need to get this done quicker rather than later," says Guenther Steiner. "Did we make progress? Yes, we made progress but progress you cannot only see in 'is the new document better than the old one?'
"It's also progress I think, for FIA, FOM and us, is a better understanding of each other, what we want to achieve and what can be achieved with the different models we are getting out there. So, I think there has been a lot of progress made, not actually in what is offered but in the understanding of what needs to be done that everybody agrees.
"And that is not written on paper. That is more a general understanding of all the partners involved to make the next proposal, to get closer to get something final and to see where it needs to be reworked - but I would say there has been progress but as I continue to say, timing now is very important."
"There has definitely been progress in that we now have a deal in front of us to react to," agreed Zak Brown. "I think it's been well thought-out. We've all been consulted and we'd just emphasise, yeah, timing now is of the essence so we can all get prepared - but the ball's really in our court for that."
"We did good progress and now we have to close the deal soon but at least on the technical regulations, the sporting regulations and all this side of the discussion, I think we have a much better picture of the situation," said Fred Vasseur, "and on the other aspect, more financial, I think that we are doing one step in the direction of each other and we will be able to close something soon.
"It's not an easy one because we are ten teams around the table with different kinds of structure for the company, with different targets, but we are going in the right direction from my point of view," admitted the Frenchman.
Referring to the pre-Bahrain meeting, Brown said: "Chase rolled out I think pretty much what we were all expecting around budget cap, revenue distribution, governance and technical rules. I don't think anyone was surprised because he has been consulting with all the teams, really since this time last year.
"It was all a very positive step in the right direction," he continued. "It's probably not an ideal situation for any of the ten teams but given that you have ten teams you're never going to land on something that works for all. So I think the fact that it's maybe not perfect for any one team means that he got it pretty right."
"If they would all agree with what we want, we would be done. But they don't," said Steiner. "They've got their own thing to think about, so.... No, without joking about it, I think it's a good step forward and hopefully we can get this done soon, because we need to move forward. We need technical regulations, we need the governance, to know how that works going forward, but Chase and Ross they work hard on it and together with the FIA, with Jean Todt, hopefully soon they can come up with the ultimate solution which will please all of us and find the right compromise among the ten of us, which I don't envy them to try to find the compromise between us ten, but somebody has to do it and they will get it done."
"I think Liberty Media and the FIA is on the right way forward," agreed Tost, "and I hope that soon we will have a final regulation on the sporting side, as well as the technical side.
"Regarding the commercial prospect, a little bit difficult, because as you can imagine the big teams do not want to spend less money, the smaller teams want to spend less money. It's early or later a compromise we have to find to have a good and competitive and interesting Formula One in the future."