FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has rejected Formula 1's desire to renegotiate the Concorde Agreement early after comments from Liberty Media chief Greg Maffei. Maffei told an investor call in May that there was a "consensus" among Liberty - as Commercial Rights Holder, the FIA and the 10 teams to strike "while the iron was hot" to come to an agreement on fresh terms, with the current Concorde not set to expire until after the 2025 season. However, the Concorde Agreement does not fall under Liberty or F1's remit as CRH, with the FIA in control of the process as the governing body of F1, with Ben Sulayem keen not to rush into talks.
Ben Sulayem cool on Concorde talks
The first Concorde Agreement was signed in 1981 amid the ongoing FISA/FOCA war, with FOCA chief Bernie Ecclestone organising a meeting in Paris to thrash out negotiations covering aspects such as broadcast rights and payment structures. Since then, the Agreement has been renewed a number of times with the current example being the eighth in history, covering the period from January 1st 2021 to December 31st 2025. Ben Sulayem admits that work is needed on the ninth Concorde Agreement from 2026, but that negotiations will be required. "The Concorde is something that we have to address, but it has to fit all sides," he told AP . "You have the stakeholders, the partners, you have the FIA, you have Liberty Media, and you have the 10 teams on top of that, we have 18 months [before the current Agreement expires]. "So our house is not on fire. We need to talk to each other and get the best for all of us."
F1 risks being like WWE
Ben Sulayem continued to warn F1 could shadow entities such as World Wrestling Entertainment should the FIA not be sufficiently empowered. "If you want a strong FIA, we have to work together and we have to empower the FIA because FIA is the regulator, they are the owners of the championships," he said. " They are the judges. When you go to the United States, speaking for example, you can speak to the big OEMs and the reason we can is because it is an FIA championship. "If it’s not an FIA championship, it will end up like the WWE with no regulator, no governing body. You need a governing body. "You really think that these multinational corporations are going to waste their money on something that they don’t trust? "We have the time, we will not be rushing it because we have 18 months. "We want a better overall agreement for FIA, for Liberty and for the teams. We are on the right track, but it is a marathon."
Most read
