McLaren Pull Off a Red Bull and Threaten to Quit

Last year, Formula One owners Liberty Media unveiled their designs for the 2021 F1 season. Now, the sport is set to pitch their idea to the FIA and the 10 Formula 1 teams. Some of these plans include elements like revenue distribution, a proposed budget cap and new racing regulations. But some teams like McLaren, need major convincing.

This will be a crucial two months for Liberty as they must try and convince the teams to accept the changes. The deadline to pass the new regulations is in June, so that is just over two months to convince the teams.

However, there has been a spanner thrown in the works, namely the McLaren-Renault team. This means that if McLaren are not convinced by the new rules proposal, they may leave the sport. Normally, Red Bull are the ones who are notorious for threatening to quit Formula One.

Speaking to the Guardian, team principal, Zak Brown said, “For McLaren it has to tick two boxes: to be financially viable and to be able to fight fairly and competitively”

“If it wasn’t that, we would seriously have to consider our position in F1. That’s not a position we want to be in.

“People throw it out there as a negotiating tactic but this has to be a fiscally responsible, competitive racing team and, if we feel the new rules don’t put us in that situation, we would have to review our participation in F1.”

Brown is a long-time supporter of equal pay for all teams and the budget cap. He is of the opinion that the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are skewing everything.

According to the Guardian, Ferrari are on the receiving end of an estimated $68m bonus for taking part. Meanwhile, the rest of the Big 3, Red Bull and Mercedes also enjoy additional payments of $35m.

Brown was unhappy that the sport’s bigger teams enjoy the larger slice of pie. This is why he is pushing for the budget cap to be passed.

“Revenue distribution should be more balanced, should be performance oriented,” he continued, “To a lesser degree than today there should be recognition for your history.

“We all agree Ferrari is the biggest name and should be remunerated as such but not at the level that it is and you also should not be able to put that money into the racing.

“Once it is levelled, that should accelerate everyone’s competitiveness. F1 has had dominant periods but a great F1 is no one dominates any more. It might mean a team winning two Championships on the trot – not five or six.”