Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has insisted that the proposed changes to the sport’s power unit regulations for 2021 are designed to attract new teams.
Many existing teams have expressed their displeasure with the rules proposed by F1’s new owners Liberty Media. Ferrari have threatened to veto the changes – or even quit the sport entirely.
But Carey said they were vital to bringing in new blood, along with plans to introduce spending caps.
“I think the most important thing we can do is make the business model for owning a team much better,” he said.
He explained that the matter of spiralling costs came up all the time in his talks with prospective teams.
“They’ll end up saying today it either costs too much, or if we’re more disciplined on what we spend, we’re competing at the back of the pack.
“If those are our two choices, that isn’t that attractive,” he continued. “That’s why we’re pursuing cost and engine initiatives that will still have differences in the cars.
- Carey optimistic over budget cap introduction
“We have teams today pay the better part of half a billion dollars per year to put a car [or two cars] on the track,” he pointed out. “It doesn’t deliver any value for fans, it’s done to compete with the other guys.
“We want this to be a profitable business,” he added. “It makes it healthier for the teams, and it certainly makes it more attractive for teams coming in.
“We’re pursuing initiatives on costs, engine, aerodynamics, others,” he said. “Wd we’ll have a unique opportunity to both improve the competition and make the economics much better.”
Teams have objected to Liberty’s plans for increasing standardisation of components. But Carey says that this definitely didn’t mean all cars would end up the same under the new rules.
“Each car is unique,” he stressed. “But the competition is more balanced, and the economics are more predictable.”
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