Toto Wolff confirms Mercedes now ready to sign F1 Concorde Agreement

Mercedes

Wolff confirms Mercedes now ready to sign F1 Concorde Agreement

Mercedes will commit to Formula 1 for the foreseeable future

Sam Hall

Friday 14 August 2020 15:31

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said Mercedes is now ready to sign the new Formula 1 Concorde Agreement.

Just one week ago, the Mercedes boss said he felt the team was not being shown the respect it deserved in the negotiations, but now the situation has changed.

The initial deadline to sign was on Wednesday moved back from August 12 to August 18, but the final deadline remains August 31.

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Speaking on Friday, Wolff confirmed: "I've been pretty vocal after the meetings that we had within the team, to say this is what we need and these are the clarifications we need in order to move forward.

"But I've changed my opinion in Silverstone. I don't think that the teams will ever be united. Everybody tries to achieve some little deals outside everybody. There's a blame culture in the media.

"So we have decided to move forward with Liberty. I've had some very constructive discussions with Chase over the last weekend, and most of the clarifications that we wanted to achieve have been discussed.

"I feel were are at a good point to sign the Concorde Agreement and move on."

He added: "What frustrated me was that we as the teams are not capable of really joining up in order to have a common standpoint.

"Not in a way that goes against Liberty or FOM, not at all, but we're having these meetings and everybody seems to be interested in the same clarifications, and in the same kind of mark-up for contracts that are necessary.

"Then we leave the meetings, and on air, I hear opinions that differ very much from what was said within the meeting. That is a certain frustration, I don't know why that happens.

"I have clarified my position very clearly with the ones that I think pick up the phone immediately once the meeting is finished.

"I have come to a point that if we are not capable of us as the teams to have a joint standpoint for the benefits of the teams, then we'll have to go back and have our own."