26/08/2020
NEWS STORY
For a while it appeared that, other than the pandemic and dramatically falling revenues, Chase Carey and his team might have yet another problem on their hands, as Toto Wolff said he was not ready to sign the new Concorde Agreement and instead recommended that the current agreement be extended by a year.
But then, having extended the deadline by a week, came the news that McLaren had signed-up and in the hours that followed the Woking squad's press release more teams confirmed that they too has agreed before F1 issued a statement of its own confirming that everyone was on board.
Heading into the Belgian Grand Prix weekend however, Christian Horner has revealed that his team was the first to sign.
"Negotiations were lengthy, especially given the global challenges facing the sport," he says, "but in some respects they were also remarkably straightforward in comparison with previous years.
"Negotiating with Bernie Ecclestone in the past was always good fun, always a bit different," he admits, "but Liberty were scrupulously fair with the negotiations and we were in fact the first team to sign it in Barcelona.
"You have to take a holistic view on these things," he adds. "That is what the agreement was, that is what Chase Carey and Liberty were putting on the table and it was up to the teams if they chose to take it or leave it.
"There was of course back and forth on certain points and there are elements that please some teams more than others, but in the end everyone came to agree on the best way forward for the good of the sport.
"It is an important agreement for F1 and although the details are confidential, it provides stability and continuity for the future so we are pleased to get it over the line.
"Liberty have definitely achieved some good things for the sport in terms of opening it up and generating interest from a new fan base which can only be a positive.
"The most important challenge now is getting the 2022 regulations right to promote better racing."
As for Toto Wolff, the Austrian admits: "We have always said that we wanted to stay in F1, so the agreement wasn't necessarily all that surprising, but we're happy that we could bring the negotiations to a positive conclusion.
"We are committed to our sport and we're looking forward to the upcoming years which will see the biggest transition F1 has ever seen," he adds. "This will reward agile, open-minded teams who can adapt successfully to the demands of the new rules."