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Toto is taking on the establishment this week and next week and wont sign until there are compromises made. He said that he was sick and tired of hearing teams agree to one thing and then complain off camera about the same thing saying the opposite. This is a can of worms and will be very interesting to watch this play out.
August 12th is the date the FIA and Formula One has set aside for the signing of the Concorde Agreement. This agreement is a blueprint of what is going to happen for the next 5 years. I don't see it being a simple straight forward process unlike the previous one 5 years ago.
The contract dictates how teams compete and how things like television revenue and prize money is distributed. There have been 7 agreements before this one all being top secret except for 2005 when it was leaked to the press.
This is all about making the sport a commercial success for everyone involved as at the end of the day a percentage of the F1 commercial profits are handed over. The main point of this agreement is that all teams agree to race in every event. This guarantees the broadcasters who pay a substantial fee to cover the event that there is an event.
One of the points that Mercedes is not happy about is an old agreement that hasn't changed being that Ferrari,Williams and McLaren receive an automatic bonus every season. Ferrari receive an estimated $100 Million with McLaren and Williams in the region of $30 Million. It is not surprising that all 3 teams are ready to sign immediately on the 12th of this month.
Mercedes have dominated the last decade of Motor racing yet they have no extra incentives like these 3 besides just the prize money. I find it a foolish policy to stick with something that isn't relevant today. Ferrari are guaranteed the 5% of the F1 profits yet they are a shambles of a team right now. There are 10 teams on the grid yet Ferrari before the first race is guaranteed $100 Million no matter what.
Toto Wolff of Mercedes is going against the grain by taking them on as he is in a position of strength right now. Formula One needs Mercedes and Mercedes doesn't need Formula One as they have won for 6 consecutive years and looking for their 7th this season which they are running away with yet again.
If we think about the FIA and F1 what they have done over the last few seasons is to penalise Mercedes. Cutting the budgets and changing the rules so Mercedes can lose it's dominance. Not only do they have the best car but the entire team Toto has put together is so far ahead of all the others. I would go as far as saying that they are a good two years ahead of all the others right now.
There are going to be a lot of teams hoping Toto can pull this off and 3 uncomfortable teams hoping he doesn't. I don't believe in rewarding success forever as the wheel has turned. McLaren ,Ferrari and Williams should never have been promised this extra bonus in the first place as it is very unfair on the others. This is really crazy as even though Mercedes win the championship they are only second in the financial rewards behind Ferrari. How is that fair?
A team like Williams who has been coming last for some time still receives more than $30 Million plus what everyone else gets from the television and commercial revenue. There is definitely an old boys club that needs to be broken up as this is not good for the sport. The current powerhouse in the sport is definitely Mercedes and Red Bull and will be for years to come.
