After the teams have agreed on important technical and sporting regulations last year, a crucial deadline is coming up again this year. The current commercial agreement between Formula 1 and the teams (the Concorde Agreement) is coming to an end. Toto Wolff now has a proposal to make these negotiations easier.
The Concorde Agreement lays down the commercial arrangements between Formula 1 and the teams for five years. In these uncertain times, however, according to Wolff, it is difficult for parties like Mercedes to commit to the sport for such a long period of time. He therefore proposes to extend the current treaty by one more year, before a new treaty is signed.
Mercedes wants to keep options open
"I am open to racing without an extension because in the auto world things change pretty quickly, and if we were not signed up for five years, that would give us flexibility.". A statement that of course revives the rumors about the uncertain future of Mercedes in Formula 1. Wolff, on the other hand, understands the importance of a new treaty.
"It gives a safety net to the shareholders of Formula 1 teams and to employees knowing that we are in this for the next five years. If you have a rolling non-committal situation it could provide instability. People like to have some kind of visibility: What am I buying into and what do I pay for? If there could be structural or seismic changes every year that would obviously not be great", Wolff says on Autoweek.com.