Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard C
Andretti is swimming upstream on a few different fronts. First new team vs. purchasing an existing one. The location issue as you say. They say they will be based in the US, but with a support location in the UK. I agree with you that this will create recruiting challenges. Existing staff in the UK (especially those with deep roots such as children in school, etc.) may have little interest in relocating. Conversely, it may bring in some new blood from the US that may not have much interest in moving to the UK. Not saying that balances things out, but I do think it is true. At the end of the day I would love to see them make it work just to see if it add something new.
And, what is so interesting about that "new" thing is that the teams and FOM keep calling out that a new team needs to bring something special to the table. What is not special about a new team located in a different part of the world. For good or bad, F1 has become this small island of incestous co-habitation all within a stone throws away from each other in central England. Why does the sport advocate for more of the same?
What is glorious about Steiner's comment is that he effectively is saying Haas shouldn't have been brought in earlier. There is no reason why his argument couldn't be applied to them as well. Just change the date.
The anti-dilution fee is mostly another topic. What is interesting is that the teams live and breath by the Concorde agreement. So the parts they love are considered sacred while those they don't like are considered negotiable or even non-applicable. Maybe at the time they signed it, they should have baked in some adjustments to that fee based upon overall value of the teams vs. a fixed amount.  Granted, I think there is some vague wording about protecting value of teams or something, but that can be worked out if FOM desires to put in the effort and make the pie larger.
Richard |
Good points here Richard.
I have commented about the dilution fee before in other threads but the whole thing is a nonsense.
If Andretti came in and was the 8th team in its first year and the others got shuffled back one spot so what?
Its a competition, and the rewards are for competitiveness.
You get beaten you don't match them you drop places in the ranking and get paid less.
Are the teams that finished ahead of Aston Martin in 2022 going to complain that their share of the cake is now smaller because they got beaten in 2023?
No.
The anti-dilution fee is protectionist drivel.
Teams are rewarded by the amount of success they generate in a particular season. So why do they need a $600 million anti-dilution fee?
In any one year they would have to compete with the other teams and get a payout on their finishing position.
If a season was close and was followed closely, they might end up with a pot 20% larger and all better off.
Then what?
Do they all give back to Andretti their share of the anti-dilution fee when in his first season they were all better off? Not likely.
They have no integrity. They are there to compete and if someone comes in and adds to their value and reward, but they get a smaller share of the pie whose fault is that?
It's not Andretti's.
Its Liberty's job to produce revenue and make the numbers work for the teams. And if the teams are lower in the pecking order and if revenue drops, don't blame Andretti. If it increases, they won't thank Andretti, they'll credit themselves.
There are commentators suggesting the RBR dominance is causing a withdrawal of number of followers. What happens if Andretti doesn't get in because they get turned down and the next season the bottom falls out of the sport?
They can't blame Andretti! And they'll have lost their opportunity to ever demand a dilution fund again.
Self-interest and greed, an unsporting attitude, and a refusal to accept that they are a part of an open competition (which is what F1 has always traditionally been based on) has the ability to turn their confidence into a nightmare for them.
And there are a number of F1 enthusiasts who would be happy to see them gone.
Where F1 is going is not liked by everyone who follows the sport, and there is always the possibility that everything could turn turtle, with little warning, in the years to come.