Toto Wolff, Chase Carey, Bahrain International Circuit, 2018

Mercedes: No “bad feelings” over Liberty’s 2021 F1 proposal

2018 Chinese Grand Prix

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Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff said the team can “see the logic” of Liberty’s plan for F1 from 2021 and there are no “bad feelings” over the proposal.

Wolff was asked by RaceFans how Mercedes feels about the proposals, new details of which were revealed here on Wednesday, and the possibility Liberty’s restructuring of F1’s prize money could cost it more money than Ferrari.

“Liberty has certain challenges that [it] needs to sort out,” said Wolff. “The sport needs to stay attractive with the competition on track. And of course revenue has to be more balanced in order to have more sporting performance.

“They need to make their growth strategy work and all that is logic to us and it was no surprise. Now it’s just for the benefit of Formula One, the sport we all love and we all want to see growing, can drive compromise.

“It’s the starting point for discussions. We have been presented their case which is good and intelligent in many point of views and are completely understandable from where they’re coming from and It’s about us presenting how see it and how we think it should be structured and then we are able to talk.

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“Insofar, there is no bad feelings after the paper. It was certainly important to know their vision and understand their strategy and now we are able to adjust accordingly and react.”

Yesterday Ferrari chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne responded to Liberty’s announcement by restating his threat to pull the team out of F1 if the sport became ‘distorted’.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “Mercedes: No “bad feelings” over Liberty’s 2021 F1 proposal”

  1. Sure doesn’t sound like there will be any need for anyone to leave.

  2. The only problem really is Ferrari, they have by far the most unequitable position. Getting 100 milion or so before they turn a corner. Just becausethey negotiated such a deal and threatened to leave so many times.

    So naturally first thing they do is threaten to leave. That is their initial negotiating position.

  3. Ferrari is not F1
    Porsche is not WEC
    Tesla is not formula E
    Godaddy is not IndyCar

    Good bye Sergio, we don’t need you

    RaceFans want racing, not your politics

    1. The closest relationship Tesla have with Formula E is that they get their batteries from Panasonic, as does the Jaguar team.

      1. Such meerkat
        15th April 2018, 5:37

        Thanks for the clarification

  4. It’s early days, this is just the opening gambit in a long game, and it isn’t his decision, rather it is the decision for the Board of Directors at Mercedes AMG.

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