Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri says he is “optimistic” a new Concorde Agreement can be reached between themselves and Liberty Media.
Since taking over from former chairman Sergio Marchionne, who tragically died in July, many have wondered if the new bosses at Maranello will maintain the same stance as their predecessor, who threatened to pull the iconic Italian brand out after 2020.
It appears based on the latest comments that the possibility hasn’t completely gone away, and in general, the gap between Liberty and the teams remains quite large.
“Discussions are underway regarding technical regulations, all financial aspects and governance under the umbrella of a new Concord agreement,” Camilleri was quoted as saying by Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“If we believe that there is a basic consensus on the principal objectives that will define the future, precise visions on how to get there are still quite distant.
“Progress has been made, but we are still far from an agreement that includes everything and can be signed by all the participants.”
After initially wanting to dramatically overhaul many areas within F1 from the engines to finances and the race weekend format, many of those goals have been softened or restructured, with the current engines likely to remain due to a lack of manufacturer interest and a budget cap set to be phased in.
A first look at possible 2021 car designs did draw disappointment by the Scuderia, who considered them “old ChampCars”, and for Camilleri, the same basic arguments put forward by Marchionne remain.
“I remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached on time, but I would like to add that as Ferrari we continue to insist that this cannot be to the detriment of the assurance that F1 remains at the top of motorsport’s technical competition,” he declared.
While that statement had no wiggle room, the CEO does see areas for negotiation with the F1 owners.
“There are obvious conflicts of interest, Liberty wants to earn more and the teams want to earn more, we are all a bit in waiting mode,” he added.
“We don’t just want to keep F1 as it is, on the contrary, we want to improve it. I don’t how all these elements will get mixed, but I am hopeful that we will reach an agreement.”