Is the token system going to save teams from bankruptcy?
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Several teams are facing bankruptcy this year due to the lack of races. To counter this and also to keep the competition fair, the FIA is looking for changes to the regulations. What works, what doesn't? Could a so-called token system offer some headroom?
In order to reduce costs and keep the competition fair, it has already been decided by the FIA that the current chassis will remain the samen in 2021. In the meantime, the teams and the organisation are continuing to discuss what can be done in terms of further development of their cars.
As it concerns a field with ten different teams, there is a lot of criticism on different measures. One may disadvantages one team, while the other measure disadvantages the other. During the meeting that was held online on Monday, the idea of a token system was being discussed.
The team bosses, together with Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and Jean Todt liked it, Motorsport.com said. The idea is to leave most of the 2020 package for 2021. Teams may then choose for themselves with a limited number of tokens in which area they will continue to develop.
Success for a second time?
The system was also used in F1 earlier in the hybrid era. The idea was to make a number of tokens available each year for teams to use in the further development of a certain part of the car. Each year these tokens became fewer. In 2017, however, this system was already stopped because Mercedes proved to be too dominant.
Since the same type of engines have been used for seven years now, the field becomes more competitive as the teams get closer to each other. This year and next year nothing will change. For this reason, the token system for the coming (crisis) time might work a lot better than before.