And the great circus of Formula 1 is reviving. The time is no longer for champagne and glitter. The Covid-19 has been there. The opening of the season initially scheduled for mid-March in Australia canceled in extremis, the following Grands Prix also forced to postpone or to a permanent stop, here is the 2020 world championship which starts this Friday, July 3 in Austria as a thinning provisional, but behind closed doors and with no clear horizon. Eight races are certainly announced in Europe until September 6. But the rest of the calendar is still unclear as the uncertainty about the global evolution of the pandemic remains.
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F1 promoters can work their brakes. The year 2020 was indeed presented in a rather favorable light. For Liberty Media, the group of the American billionaire John Malone owner of F1 since March 2017, the turnover was to be on the rise again, exceeding 2.1 billion euros. For some teams, it was also a celebration with budgets dancing farandole to more than 400 million euros, up 72 million for Mercedes or 62 million for Ferrari. And the pilots’ salaries (more than 167 million euros accumulated) were not doing too badly, thank you.
A slimming cure
And then patatras. A whole spring without rolling, and an obviously narrowed season, from 22 to fifteen races probably and at best. “Liberty Media’s turnover should drop by 500 million euros, the teams are still missing 100 million contracts with partners that they were unable to sign, and salaries have been cut in general. by 20%, says Marc Limacher, editor of the Business book GP 2020, the only publication presenting the state of the discipline’s economy annually. The coronavirus actually reveals the flaws in the current system. “
The period was more than delicate, especially for teams whose results on the track had stalled in recent years. McLaren (8 manufacturer titles, 12 pilot titles), which certainly pays for the difficulties of the entire British automobile group, but where the wave of layoffs announced (1,200 people out of 4,300) also affects the Formula 1 team (70 people concerned). “Over the past five years, most of the teams have hired a lot and these are now large structures which can exceed 200 employees, underlines Marc Limacher. A melting of the global workforce is to be expected ”. In search of fresh money, McLaren would seek via the Goldman Sachs bank a shareholder for its F1 sector exclusively.
Finding one or more investors is also an emergency for another historic team: Williams (9 manufacturer titles, 7 pilot titles). The stable could be sold if Claire Williams, the daughter of the founder Franck, does not find a partner determined to leave him the control. But McLaren and Williams aren’t the only ones racing on the rims. Others, like Racing Point or Haas for example, accumulate debts and do not display radiant serenity.
Capped budgets for more equity
They bet suddenly on the agreement reached during the confinement around the ceiling of budgets the next seasons. Fixed at the end of hard negotiations in 2019 at 161 million euros, this ceiling was lowered in favor of the crisis. Teams will not be able to exceed 134 million euros in 2021, 129 million in 2022, then 125 million from 2023 to 2025, excluding salary and engine. The measure, combined with a technical handicap system, particularly in terms of aerodynamics for the “big” teams, is supposed to restore fairness on the track, which has been outrageously dominated in recent years by Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Breathing for the teams, and a renewed sports interest? ” Yes and no, comments Marc Limacher. Everything is complicated in F1, and the cap is accompanied by a dozen exemptions which should allow small teams to be more profitable, without jeopardizing the domination of the flagship teams on the track. This agreement is in fact very political, and corresponds to the desire for stability demanded by the teams. It ensures the near future to resolve the crisis perhaps without too much damage ”.
The strange 2020 season, with its races sometimes doubled on certain circuits, like on the Austrian Spielberg also host of the next Grand Prix on July 12, is in fact a year of transition which leaves many questions unanswered: how to seduce new manufacturers , with what type of engines and what technologies by 2026? How to restore the image of a sport living in its bubble and apparently poorly suited to the aspirations of the time? F1 is still spinning despite the crisis. But beware, more and more fragile.
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A seventh title for Lewis Hamilton?
If Lewis Hamilton wins again this season at the wheel of his Mercedes, he will equal the record of the German Michael Schumacher, seven times world champion. At 35, the British pilot also made a personal commitment against racism and discrimination. The champion is supported on the subject by his Mercedes team which for this season has replaced the color of its traditionally silver racing cars with a deep black, “To show our commitment to more diversity”, according to the boss of the stable. Lewis Hamilton’s comment: “ We want to build something that goes beyond the sporting field and if we can be opinion leaders by this action, it can give confidence to others ”.
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