Mercedes refuses to sign Concorde agreement: "We won't be rewarded''

The deadline to sign the new Concorde Agreement for the teams expires on 12th of August. All teams are happy with the new distribution of funds, with the exception of Mercedes. The German race stable hasn't signed yet.

In the new Formula 1 agreement, the money has been distributed more fairly among the ten teams than it has been in recent years. It is a step that Formula 1 wants to take to make the sport fairer and more competitive, after the budget cap has already been introduced. The small teams benefit from this scheme and Ferrari is lucky again.

Ferrari is lucky

The team that has been there since the start of Formula 1 is also seen as an important team in the sport by the new owners of Formula 1. As in the past, they will receive a bonus in terms of money. It is an important reason for Mercedes not to sign yet.

''We are in principle in favour of a fair sport and therefore also for the fair distribution of the money. At the moment, however, we are the biggest victim of the new scheme. Ferrari has kept their privilege and Red Bull has the advantage of two teams", says Toto Wolff according to Auto, Motor und Sport.

Mercedes remains stubborn

''I think Mercedes has contributed a lot to Formula 1 in recent years and we also have the driver who attracts the most attention worldwide. We have the feeling that we will not be rewarded for this," says Wolff, who still keeps the door open for possible adjustments.

However, Liberty Media doesn't want to make any more adjustments. ''We've discussed all the topics long ago and will not postpone it any further''. So the question is whether Mercedes will sign or not. In any case, the team will miss out on a signing bonus if it doesn't sign before August 12th. The signing bonus amounts to 5 million dollars.