Horner: Impossible to get F1 teams to agree

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says it would be impossible to get Formula 1 teams to put together the future regulations that they would all agree on and has placed the decision on the FIA and Liberty Media.

During a feisty FIA F1 team principals’ press conference at the Australian Grand Prix, Horner and Ferrari chief Maurizio Arrivabene clashed over the Italian manufacturer’s recent signing of the FIA safety director and assistant race director Laurent Mekies with Horner claiming an unwritten agreement had been broken.

While Horner has frequently pointed at Ferrari and Mercedes colluding together with threats of a breakaway series in order to position a best possible deal from 2021 onwards, the Red Bull boss has urged F1 commercial rights holders Liberty and the FIA to nail down the future rules, regulations and financial revenue redistributions as he feels the idea to get teams to decide as “impossible”.

“My view on this is very simple: trying to get a consensus between teams that have got varying objectives, different set-ups, is going to be impossible,” Horner said. “It’s down to the commercial rights holder and the FIA to get together, come up with a set of regulations, what is the financial framework, what is the distribution that they want to have, put it on the table and it’s down to the teams whether they want to sign up to that or not.

“Of course, as Toto [Wolff] says, there will be a lot of positioning, the media will be used, it’s history repeating itself. It happens every five or six years, every time the Concorde Agreement comes up for renewal.

“But my feeling is, Liberty together with FIA, need to get on the same piece of paper to say this is what we want Formula 1 to be, this is the financial distribution surrounding it, here’s the deal and laid out to the teams.”

Wolff, who backs the idea of Liberty and the FIA finalising the future regulations before the end of this year, says Mercedes wants to support F1’s decision-making process but he is only doing what is best for the German manufacturer.

“I can assure you that we care a lot about responsibility and we owe it to Formula 1,” Wolff said. “We have at least three more years together in this great sport, regulated by the FIA, owned by Liberty, run by competent men and we just need to give our input support in the best possible ways so it’s great and we’re not devaluating it.

“We are all carrying the torch of a great series and a great brand that was built 40 or 50 years ago and has tremendous value and nobody is taking that lightly.

“Headlines are being created based on things that are being said and like Christian mentioned before, it is about the new Concorde Agreement going forward, everybody’s trying to position themselves but all the time with respect for the series.”