"Formula 1 wins today" says McLaren CEO Zak Brown

McLaren

"Formula 1 wins today" says McLaren CEO Zak Brown

FIA World Motorsport Council rubber stamp altered 2020 regulations

Sam Hall

Wednesday 27 May 2020 21:46

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has lauded the 'crucially important' FIA approved Formula 1 regulation changes.

Brown had been among the loudest voices for a cost cap of as low as $100 million.

A compromise of $145m, down from $175m has been given the rubber stamp and Brown has nothing but praise for the FIA.

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“Formula 1 wins today," said Brown. "This is a crucially important moment for our sport. F1 has been financially unsustainable for some time, and inaction would have risked the future of F1 and its participants, who are to be commended for resolving this issue collectively and determinedly.

“A uniform budget cap, in concert with more even distribution of revenue among the teams, will ensure greater competition and more people wanting to watch live and on TV, driving more sustained revenues to underpin the long-term financial health of the teams and the sport. Ultimately the fans win, and if the fans win, the whole sport wins too.”

Across the entirety of their business, McLaren have been forced to make 1,200 job cuts due to the current financial uncertainty.

The reduced budget cap will aid McLaren in their bid to survive, and team principal Andreas Seidl added his praise for the regulations changes. Seidl said: “These are very tough times for everyone. There have been months of hard work under difficult circumstances but it’s great to see how, under the leadership of the FIA and F1, all teams pulled together to define the right actions to navigate through this crisis and work towards the future for a sustainable sport, that will enable all the teams to take part on a level playing field.

“While McLaren supports the cost-saving measures in general, we are pleased with the compromise to provide teams with enough aero freedom to retain the competitive element that is core to Formula 1 throughout 2020 and 2021, until the new technical regulations kick in for 2022.

“It has been clear to everyone for some time that a budget cap would be applied and we pushed for a lower limit to support a financially sustainable sport. It is a big challenge ahead of us. Adjusting the way we work and right-sizing the team to this new cap over the next months is a massive and painful task and, highlighted by our news earlier this week, will sadly mean losing team members, but our aim is to be the best-sized and most efficient team in the future.

“The cooperation and understanding of our team members have been great and with shutdown coming to an end from Wednesday onwards, it is important the team had clarity on the various regulations, which will now allow us to start work again on our cars and understand the implications of the regulations for the future."

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