Formula One should strike deal while iron is hot, says rights holders

MIAMI – Liberty Media, the commercial rights holders of Formula One, said on Friday that the time was right to draw up a new Concorde Agreement with the FIA and F1’s 10 teams, as the sport rides a massive wave of popularity.

Liberty Media chief executive officer and president Greg Maffei said stakeholders should come together, “strike while the iron is hot” and extend the current agreement that runs till 2025.

“I think there’s a consensus among the teams and the FIA and ourselves that now might be a good time to try and strike while the iron is hot,” he said, during an investor call after the announcement of first-quarter results.

“There’s certainly no obligation to do that and... no risk if that doesn’t get done.

“(The current agreement) went right to the end and historically, in many cases, the teams have operated without a Concorde Agreement.”

The confidential Concorde Agreement is named after the 1981 original that was negotiated at the Paris headquarters of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in the Place de la Concorde.

The deal with Liberty Media, the governing FIA and teams sets out the terms and commercial arrangements under which the teams race.

Team principals taking part in Friday’s media conference between practice sessions at the Miami Grand Prix agreed that getting a deal done sooner rather than later was in everyone’s best interest.

“I think longevity is in the best interest of everybody,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “We have a settled sport that has a clear direction for the future, of what its goals and objectives are, together with the technical regulations and sporting regulations, financial regulations we want to develop for the future.

“Formula One has never been in a stronger position.”

While negotiations of past agreements have been tense, McLaren boss Zak Brown does not see the necessity for major changes but rather tweaks to the current deal.

“Everything is looking great if you look at the health of the sport from Liberty’s point of view, from the 10 teams’ point of view, the fans, TV, so I would like to see it get done sooner rather than later just for stability,” he said.

“But, for the most part, it is a solid agreement... so we don’t need to fix what is not broken.”

On the track, Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen was comfortably the fastest, while Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari into the barriers in second practice at the Miami Grand Prix on Friday.

He went off at turn 8, the car snapping and locking up as it went nose first into the barriers and wrecked the front suspension.

The incident brought out the red flags with 10 minutes remaining, the Monegasque stepping out and walking away with his session over.

Verstappen had already made it business as usual at the top with a 1min 27.930sec effort on an improving track, after George Russell had led seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes one-two in the first session. Leclerc was third fastest in both sessions.

Saturday’s final practice session and qualifying took place after press time. REUTERS