Carey keen to scrap Concorde Agreement in future
Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey would like to create a long-term, continual partnership with the teams and scrap the current Concorde Agreement format in the future.
The current agreement which binds the teams to the sport and encompasses all of the financial ties between them and commercial rights holder expires at the end of the 2020 season, giving Carey time to work with the teams to warm to his new ideology.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Carey said: “We have the infamous document called the Concorde Agreement. Which is this agreement that comes up every six to eight years, it comes up in 2020 which defines the financial arrangements with teams.
“I think our goal is to create much more of a long-term partnership, not a partnership that sort has a point in time that you go out and renegotiate the next eight-year partnership, that there’s a continuum.”
Carey believes that due to the nature of a constant deadline to work to, it allows teams to keep positioning themselves in order to maximise their own interests in getting the best deal.
In order to change this constant of posturing and tactical gamesmanship, he aims to shift the philosophy in a new direction and work with the teams much more closely with the new deal, putting the sports best interests at heart of the new partnership.
Carey added: “What I’d like to have is everybody’s priority being continually looking three years down the road, not looking at a specific point in time. I think they all welcome getting there, but we’ve got to drive it.
“Really what we’re doing is we’re saying we’re working as partners that compete on the track, but share a vision of where we’re going as a sport and share the benefits of doing that together.”
With the teams having been part of the Concorde Agreement’s format for so long, Carey is fully aware a culture change could be tough for some, but ultimately believes it is in the best interests for both parties to build a much closer and more open relationship.
“It’s a sport that historically that was a little bit every man for himself, and how do you game each other and the like, and that leads to ‘one plus one is one and a half,” Carey added.
“If you could pull together and figure out what is the right path forward for everybody, you make ‘one plus one is three’.
“That’s our goal, to change the culture of this sport, which has had some very unique aspects to it, and create a new culture. And I feel good about it so far, there’s a real welcomeness to wanting to do that.
“There’s no question of changing a culture that’s been embedded for that long will take some time, but I think it’s a transforming opportunity to really build a longer term, healthier relationship that benefits us both.”