Further confrontation between Ferrari and Formula 1 owners Liberty Media is "inevitable" as the Scuderia's privileges are targeted, McLaren executive director Zak Brown has claimed.
Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has issued a threat to pull the Italian team out of the sport after 2020, believing the proposed engine changes for 2021, which call for some standardisation of parts, will take F1 in the wrong direction.
However, that is just the first area where the two sides have disagreements with the issue of financial benefits, notably Ferrari's $100m bonus payment, likely to be an even more toxic topic for negotiation as Liberty look to equalise the revenue distribution between the 10 teams.
"A confrontation between Ferrari and Liberty is inevitable," Brown told Spain's AS newspaper.
"Ferrari wants to protect the money they receive because they receive a disproportionate amount.
We all recognise that Ferrari as a team has added more value to the sport than anyone and should be rewarded accordingly.
"But I think it is very unbalanced, and that Liberty only wants and has to do the best for the sport," he added.
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The American entrepreneur has been one of the most supportive allies to the new F1 leadership, who reached their first year in charge last month, and he continued that backing by insisting teams should be more cooperative in the running of the sport.
"F1 is a fast-moving, impatient and unforgiving sport but the teams can’t rely solely on Liberty and F1 to solve all the problems," the McLaren boss claimed.
"Yes, there are several challenges but the key is to turn these into opportunities."
