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Liberty Media holds meeting in Bahrain to present F1 future

Published on 06 Apr 2018 10:58
4
By: Fergal Walsh

Liberty Media held a meeting in Bahrain on Friday to present to the teams how the future of Formula 1 will look. Liberty was expected to showcase the finalised engine rules for the 2021 season, which caused some controversy in 2017, when the first draft of the plans appeared.

Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault all voiced its displeasure with Liberty's plans, with Ferrari going as far as threatening to pull out of the sport. The manufacturers were worried that simplifying the rules would mean hundredths of millions of euros that have been invested would simply go down the drain.

The meeting in Bahrain lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, in which Liberty presented - not discussed - its plans for the coming years. The full list of the new plans is below.

Power unit (PU)

The PU must be cheaper, simpler, louder, have more power and reduce the necessity of grid penalties.
It must remain road relevant, hybrid and allow manufacturers to build unique and original PU.
New PU rules must be attractive for new entrants and Customer teams must have access to equivalent performance.

Costs

We believe how you spend the money must be more decisive and important than how much money you spend.
While there will be some standardised elements, car differentiation must remain a core value
Implement a cost cap that maintains Formula 1 position as the pinnacle of motorsport with a state-of-the-art technology.

Revenues

The new revenue distribution criteria must be more balanced, based on meritocracy of the current performance and reward success for the teams and the Commercial Rights Holder.
F1s unique, historical franchise and value must and will still be recognised.
Revenue support to both cars and engine suppliers.

Sporting and technical rules & regulations

We must make cars more raceable to increase overtaking opportunities.
Engineering technology must remain a cornerstone but driver’s skill must be the predominant factor in the performance of the car.
The cars must and will remain different from each other and maintain performance differentiators like aerodynamics, suspensions and PU performance. However, we believe areas not relevant to fans need to be standardised.

Governance

A simple and streamline structure between the teams, the FIA and Formula 1.

Fergal Walsh

F1 News Mercedes Renault Ferrari

Replies (4)

mbmwe36

Posts: 533
The budget cap won't work, and it'll end up favouring factory teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and to some extent Renault.

If they want real innovation and road relevancy, they should set the engineers free. Have a fuel flow limit, a maximum and a minimum weight of the car and let them go to town. No limit on electrification as long as the maximum weight of the car is not exceeded.
In terms of aero, they can maintain limitations because it directly influences the other cars on the track as well
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- Apr 6 2018 - 12:18
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  It all depends on how its done, but knowing business people they wont make it extensive enough, so you are probably correct. Teams will just find loopholes, and it'll be business as usual.
  + 0
  
  Apr 6 2018 - 19:30
f1dave

Posts: 782
With these changes it will be a short meeting.
- + 0
- Apr 6 2018 - 16:55
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
It all looks good. I agree with MBMWE that the budget cap might not work, but its more down to be being a cynic about business people being poor at regulating stuff like that. Teams will just find some loophole, meanin business as usual. But I like most of the points here. As for making the cars easier to overtake: we had that up until 2017, and nobody really seemed to like them that much. Should we go back to that? Personally, some happy middleground might be a sweetspot, but the amount of overtakes last year dropped whereas quality of overtakes increased, and Im all for quality.
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- Apr 6 2018 - 19:33