Zak Brown is in favor of the arrival of new teams on the F1 grid
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, expresses himself in favor of the expansion of the grid. He is one of the few actors in F1 to take this side, while others prefer to prioritize stability.
The FIA announced earlier this month the interest of new potential teams, with the aim of expanding the grid to 11 or 12 teams by 2025. Some stakeholders in F1, including current teams, are rather opposed to the potential expansion of the grid, as they prefer to prioritize stability.
For Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, this potential opening is a means to further develop Formula 1: Our general viewpoint is that as long as a team complements the sport, whether it’s an 11th or 12th team, and can contribute to enlarging the pie, increasing notoriety, and attracting more sponsors or broadcasters. We get more media contracts and they pay fair franchise fees, like all other sports, so I see no reason for them not to join us,” Brown stated to Autosport.
He adds, In the end, it is up to the FIA and Formula 1 to determine if they meet all these criteria. But assuming they do, then you are welcome to race.
These criteria for joining the F1 grid are also a subject of debate. Any new team must pay $200 million to the existing 10 teams to compensate for the decrease in TV rights revenue, which is divided among the 11 teams. However, some team managers believe that this figure, set during the Concorde Agreement, has been set too low. The issue should be discussed during the F1 Commission meeting next week, with some parties considering at least tripling the figure as part of the next Concorde Agreement.
An expansion of Formula 1, a debate between the actors.
Andretti is currently the most motivated team to join the F1 grid in the future, negotiating a partnership with the American automotive giant General Motors to make its entry. The latter criticized the existing teams for showing greed in their response to his plans last month.
On his part, the Haas F1 team boss, Günther Steiner, declared last week that he sees no advantage and only a risk in the possibility of expanding the grid, noting the current stability of the series.
Brown said he was not surprised by this reaction: “I find that some Formula 1 teams are very closed-minded in their opinion of not having a long-term vision of things that can make this sport grow, and they only think about the here and now. Unfortunately, I am not surprised that some of our competitors have a rather short-term vision.”
