Liberty Media wants an overhaul of Formula 1 to take place ahead of the 2021 season to ensure it is cheaper, more spectacular and better run than it currently is, following a meeting between Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and all ten team principals on Friday in Bahrain.
The ninety-minute meeting saw Liberty Media unveil the five key areas they want to address in the coming years, with power units, costs, revenues, governance and the Sporting and Technical rules and regulations all coming under scrutiny.
Amongst the key points was the reaffirmation that Liberty Media still want to introduce a cost cap to ensure budgets are more aligned and to prevent teams with limited budgets falling further behind compared with those with more financial clout.
At the same time, they want the distribution of payments to be fairer, while the power units must be cheaper, simpler, louder and more powerful, as well as road relevant.
Power units (PU)
- The PU must be cheaper, simpler, louder, have more power and reduce the necessity of grid penalties.
- It must remain road relevant, hybrid and allow manufacturers to build unique and original PU.
- New PU rules must be attractive for new entrants and Customer teams must have access to equivalent performance.
Costs
- Liberty believes how you spend the money must be more decisive and important than how much money you spend.
- While there will be some standardised elements, car differentiation must remain a core value.
- Implement a cost cap that maintains Formula 1 position as the pinnacle of motorsport with a state-of-the-art technology.
Revenues
- The new revenue distribution criteria must be more balanced, based on meritocracy of the current performance and reward success for the teams and the Commercial Rights Holder.
- F1s unique, historical franchise and value must and will still be recognised.
- Revenue support to both cars and engine suppliers.
Sporting and technical rules & regulations
- It wants to make cars more raceable to increase overtaking opportunities.
- Engineering technology must remain a cornerstone but driver’s skill must be the predominant factor in the performance of the car.
- The cars must and will remain different from each other and maintain performance differentiators like aerodynamics, suspensions and PU performance. However, we believe areas not relevant to fans need to be standardised.
Governance
- A simple and streamlined structure between the teams, the FIA and Formula 1.
Brawn says the meeting in Bahrain was more like a presentation than any kind of debate, and those who wish to respond and have their own comments will have their opportunities in further discussions in the coming months.
“It was a more a meeting to pass the information and to pass the views onto the teams,” said Brawn to Motorsport.com. “The teams need to digest it now, and then the discussion proper will start. It was a straightforward meeting with no major controversies.”
