Both McLaren and Renault have declared their future participation in Formula 1 is dependent on greater financially equality from 2021.
The two teams have seen their level of competitiveness pegged in recent years without the budget of the top teams and by their influence with the rise of so-called ‘B-teams’ in the midfield like Haas and Alfa Romeo.
In the case of McLaren, their slump has seen them without a victory since 2012 and now without a podium for five years, with the last coming with Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen at the 2014 Australian GP.
And, ahead of an important meeting this week where Liberty Media will lay out their 2021 proposals, the message is clear.
“For McLaren, it [the proposal] has to tick two boxes: to be financially viable and to be able to fight fairly and competitively,” CEO Zak Brown told the Guardian.
“If it wasn’t that, we would seriously have to consider our position in F1 and that’s not a position we want to be in.
“People throw it out there as a negotiating tactic but this has to be a fiscally responsible, competitive racing team and if we feel the new rules don’t put us in that situation, we would have to review our participation in F1.”
While both teams agree on the importance of financial change in the sport, where Brown’s point differed is how he wants the owners to address it.
“Revenue distribution should be more balanced, should be performance oriented,” the American claimed, with the top three teams plus McLaren receiving bonus payments from the commercial rights holder.
“To a lesser degree than today there should be recognition for your history. We all agree Ferrari is the biggest name and should be remunerated as such but not at the level that it is and you also should not be able to put that money into the racing.
“Once it is levelled, that should accelerate everyone’s competitiveness. F1 has had dominant periods but a great F1 is no one dominates any more. It might mean a team winning two Championships on the trot – not five or six.”
For Renault F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul, his financial focus is on trying to control the spiralling amounts that top teams are spending per year.
“There is lots of dialogue between the teams and F1 and the FIA, in particular on the budget cap, that’s a very complex set of new regulations and something that did not exist,” he told Motorsport.com
“As far as Renault is concerned because we think that something needs to be seriously done to contain the costs to be competitive in F1, we are massively in support of the budget cap.
“Is it the perfect answer? Maybe not. Is it the best answer? Probably.”
Also Read:
- Mercedes not opposed to F1 budget cap if regulations are ‘implementable’
- Renault threaten F1 exit due to ‘different universe’ created by Mercedes & Ferrari
- McLaren call on Liberty to fix ‘broken’ F1 regardless of manufacturer opposition
The situation for 2021 is becoming increasingly urgent too, with a deadline of June set to have most of the regulations settled.
This is to enable all teams to decide if they wish to sign up to the new Concorde Agreement and have sufficient preparation time for what may be one of the biggest overhauls of the rules in F1 history.
As for how this intense period will end?
“I am optimistic that everyone will participate,” McLaren’s Brown stated.
“There will be fireworks between now and then. It’s a negotiation but I am optimistic F1 will do the right things and sign up all 10 teams and we will have a much better, more competitive F1 from 2021 onwards.”