Toto Wolff and Christian Horner have given their reaction to the draft of F1’s latest Concorde Agreement, with the Mercedes and Red Bull team bosses in agreement that it represents a good starting point for negotiations.
Greg Maffei, the chief executive of Formula 1’s commercial rights holders Liberty Media, recently confirmed that the teams have received a draft of the new Concorde Agreement – the document that effectively binds the sport together – for F1 2026.
Toto Wolff, Christian Horner react to proposed F1 Concorde Agreement
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Maffei outlined his belief that negotiations with the teams should be “relatively easier” than talks over the last Concorde Agreement, signed in August 2020 and due to expire at the end of F1 2025, in the light of the sport’s popularity boom over recent years.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “We’ve just sent out the new draft of our proposed Concorde Agreement.
“There’s been some discussion with some teams about it, and where it will go, and so we have reason to think it should be relatively easier.
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“I’m sure there are teams who will want more money than we want to give them. There’s always that tension.
“But I do believe the goodwill that we have created, and the general fact that they’re all not only making more money remember off of F1, but also their own sponsorship deals have been tremendously stronger – go look at the success of sponsorship at Red Bull, McLaren, even Ferrari now with their new HP deal.
“The teams are doing very well to where they were before we got involved, so hopefully that goodwill carries forward.”
Asked to give their initial feedback on the proposed new Concorde Agreement at last weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Wolff and Horner both gave it the thumbs up.
Wolff told media including PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher: “I think we got the basic terms on how Formula 1 sees the next five-year term playing out.
“There’s some goodness in there. There’s a few things which we will discuss, pros and cons, and of course there will be some some negotiations.
“But fundamentally we all want to achieve the same: to grow the sport.
“That means the bottom line grows. And if the bottom line grows, the teams and the sport benefit.”
Horner stressed the need for evolution rather than revolution after a productive period for the sport since the last Concorde Agreement.
He added: “It will be the usual discussion of the teams wanting more and the promoter wanting more, but what we have works relatively well.
“I think the basics of it are all relatively sound. I think as the sport continues to evolve and grow, there are areas that we can tune the agreement in.
“But I think the fundamental basis of it is going to be tuning rather than revolution.
“Sometimes if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
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