F1 News
Marko happy with flexibility Concorde Agreement: "You can cancel annually"
- GPblog.com
The ten Formula 1 teams have all signed the new Concorde Agreement, which is valid until 2025. The teams are all generally satisfied. For example, Ferrari is very happy to keep their veto as well as their financial extra. Red Bull Racing is not complaining either, as they are once again happy with the flexibility that the agreement offers. Helmut Marko has now clarified this.
Flexible contract duration
"One point is that you can cancel it every year," says Red Bull Racing's team advisor to Formel1.de. "It's not a permanent contract like it used to be." In theory, this means that Red Bull Racing can cancel the contract after each season and thus stop in Formula 1 as they have no obligation to participate in 2025.
This flexibility is important. Not because Red Bull Racing necessarily intends to quit in the short term, but because they have a contract with Honda until the end of next year. Marko says literally about the importance of flexibility: "Because our Honda contract currently expires in 2021." After that it is uncertain what Honda will do, so Red Bull would like to keep all options open.
Financial allocation
Another factor that comes into play in the interest of flexibility is "that the financial allocation is different." In that context, Red Bull Racing as a team is going somewhat backwards, but they see compensation elsewhere at AlphaTauri. Marko: "What we get less at Red Bull, we get more at AlphaTauri, for example. That's a de facto balance."
Another point that Marko is also happy with is about voting. "Some things can only be decided by an overwhelming majority and no longer by a unanimous vote. For example, the reversal of the starting grid in Austria, which was prevented by Mercedes."
In other words, the new agreement provides for a different financial distribution, a different voting system and flexibility in terms of period of validity. These are points that Red Bull Racing is very pleased with.