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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has taken F1’s lead and called for a new Concorde Agreement to be sorted “sooner rather than later”.
The Agreement is a tri-partite commercial arrangement – arguably the most important in the sport for all concerned – between F1 owners Liberty Media, the FIA, and the 10 teams, and that run over five-year periods.
After recently announcing strong first-quarter results for this year, Liberty Media CEO and president Greg Maffei suggested it right to “strike while the iron is hot” in terms of signing a new deal, despite the current contract not expiring until the end of 2025.
Brown also feels there is no point in holding on for two years to start renegotiations, particularly with F1 enjoying such a boom period.
“I think everything’s working great,” said Brown. “If you look at the health of the sport, from a Liberty point of view, from the 10 racing teams’ point of view, the teams that want to come in, the promoters, the fans, the TV.
“So I’d like to see it get done sooner rather than later, just for the stability and longevity of the sport.
“I also think it’s a little bit of a rinse and repeat. It’s working. I don’t think there’s much to add or change to the existing agreement, so I don’t think it needs to be a prolonged conversation either.
“I’d pretty much be happy with a rinse and repeat, with a few tweaks here and there. There are things in the digital age that have advanced since we did the last agreement that I think need to be discussed.
“But for the most part, it’s a solid agreement. It’s working so we don’t really need to fix what’s not broken.”
‘No downside’ with early start
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner and Alpine counterpart Otmar Szafnauer echoed Brown’s sentiments, believing a new deal now would benefit everyone involved.
“You know how long these Concorde Agreements normally take, so the earlier we start, the earlier we get to a conclusion,” said Steiner.
“So I’m not against this if FOM (Formula One Management) want to come and propose to us what they want to do for the next five years, which is actually the next seven years now. We, as a team, are pretty happy to talk with them.”
Szafnauer added: “If FOM is willing to start talking with the teams and start an outline of what a new Concorde Agreement could be, then starting early, I don’t see any downside with that.”
