McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown believes Formula 1 teams should have less influence in deciding future regulations amid the first standoff between manufacturers and owners Liberty Media.
Currently, many of the team bosses along with the FIA and F1 bosses form what is known as the Strategy Group to decide the sport’s rules but many argue it is this that has led to the poor decisions made in recent years.
Since completing their takeover in January, Liberty has tried to assume that power but has come up against the opposition of the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes at their first hurdle with the two threatening to quit over proposed engine changes for 2021.
“At some point, they’re going to need and make some decisions and F1 teams are either going to have to get on board or not,” Brown told Sky Sports referring to the engines. “I believe they will because F1 is a powerful business for all of us. Some of us live in F1, I think Ferrari is who Ferrari is because they’ve been in F1 for 60 years.”
But it is this exact type of situation which the McLaren boss points too as proof the current system does not work.
“I think we need to change the governance of the sport. I think the teams have too much of a say, we definitely need a voice, we need a say, but there are too many roadblocks,” he claims.
“We need to get Liberty get on with it, they want to make the sport better, they’re focusing on the fans which we’ve not done for a long time. I think we’ll have some turbulent negotiations here but hopefully, we’ll get them over with quickly and we can get back to racing.”
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At a time when many see F1 as a sport won more by the engineers than those behind the wheel, Lewis Hamilton also suggests drivers should be given a say in deciding the rules.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing for them to include us, or some of us, because sometimes they make decisions about the car and sometimes it’s not been the best thing,” the four-time champion stated. “It’s not bad to have our viewpoint on how that is going to affect the driving and the racing because in a racing situation we do our best.”
The Mercedes driver even offered his own 10 years of experience adding: “I’m open if anybody wants to talk to me. My door is open if they want to talk.”
