The head of the FIA says the motorsports governing physique has no real interest in signing an early renewal of its contract with Liberty Media and the ten Formula One groups, who’ve said their want to sweeten the deal whereas the collection is basking in world reputation.
The eighth and present Concorde Agreement – which units the principles and laws for F1 in addition to how tv income and prize cash is distributed – started in 2021 and runs via the 2025 season. In a May convention name with Wall Street analysts, the CEO of Liberty Media, which holds the industrial rights to F1, indicated a need for a brand new settlement a lot earlier than that.
“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 and renew and extend the Concorde Agreement,” the CEO, Greg Maffei, stated on the decision. “I hope we have a more positive relationship, and everybody sees the benefit of going early and providing certainty for all involved.”
But in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem stated he sees no purpose to renegotiate now.
“The Concorde is something that we have to address, but it has to fit all sides. You have the stakeholders, the partners, you have the FIA, you have Liberty Media, and you have the 10 teams, and and we have on top of that 18 months,” Ben Sulayem informed AP this week. “So our house is not on fire. We need to talk to each other and get the best for all of us.”
Ben Sulayem additionally cautioned in opposition to any maneuvers that might doubtlessly weaken the FIA’s governance of F1.
“If you want a strong FIA, we have to work together and we have to empower the FIA because FIA is the regulator, they are the owners of the championships. They are the judges,” he informed AP. “When you go to the United States, talking for instance, you’ll be able to converse to the massive OEMs and the rationale we will is as a result of it’s an FIA championship. If it’s not an FIA championship, it’s going to find yourself just like the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) with no regulator, no governing physique. You want a governing physique.
“You really think that these multinational corporations are going to waste their money on something that they don’t trust?” he requested. “We have the time, we will not be rushing it because we have 18 months. We want a better overall agreement for FIA, for Liberty and for the teams. We are on the right track, but it is a marathon.”
Ben Sulayem, a former rally racer, was elected to his four-year time period as president lower than every week after the controversial 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi. That race ended with an unprecedented procedural change following a late warning that allowed Max Verstappen to win his first world championship in a race that had been dominated by Lewis Hamilton, who was in search of a file eighth title. Ben Sulayem changed Jean Todt and is the primary Arab president of the FIA.
Among the matters he mentioned with AP was the firestorm he inherited. Not solely did he need to spearhead the investigation into the Abu Dhabi race, however he stated he was blindsided to be taught the FIA and F1 have been embroiled in a patent lawsuit over use of the halo machine that protects the motive force cockpit.
“I knew nothing. I didn’t know about some of the financials. I honestly didn’t know anything,” he stated.
Ben Sulayem instantly went to work. But there have been bumps – a foolish spat with Hamilton final season over the star driver’s want to put on jewellery whereas competing – and earlier this season there gave the impression to be a goal on Ben Sulayem all through the paddock after he publicly cautioned on Twitter in opposition to overvaluing the monetary price of F1.
His tweets led Formula One and Liberty Media’s attorneys to ship a warning letter to the FIA World Motor Sport Council that the president had overstepped and “interfered with our (commercial) rights in an unacceptable manner.”
Ben Sulayem additionally expressed help for a bid to affix F1 from Andretti Global, enlargement most F1 groups oppose. He puzzled to AP about his acceptance as FIA president, and shared a cautionary story informed to him by former F1 head Bernie Ecclestone.
“Bernie Ecclestone said it’s amazing how the president, it’s like a ball being thrown to the Italians, and the French and back to the British,” stated Ben Sulayem, an Emirati. “And that’s the presidency, it was not allowed to leave that certain area. And you come with my background, and my skin color, it took me 12 years, going nonstop to get here.”
He took umbrage with the secretive politics of F1 and stated “any of the highest administration may have picked up the telephone. I’m accessible. Did anybody do this? No. They went on assault,’ he informed AP.
“I like dignity, and respect and values has to be in any deal. I believe all of this was just unnecessarily counterproductive,” he stated. “Was anything achieved by all this? Did it change anything? No. I tell you what I became: stronger.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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