F1 shouldn't go "socialist" with income redistribution - Haas
Formula 1 team boss Gene Haas says the championship's new owner Liberty Media has to be "very careful" with income redistribution, as he believes the big teams should continue to earn more.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team VF-17, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB13
Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
With the current Concorde Agreement running out in 2020, Liberty has made it clear that it wants to change the payment structure, which would inevitably mean that Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and the other big players would have less of an automatic claim on the lion's share of the income.
Most midfield team bosses have already been angling for a bigger share of the pie. However, Haas said it was important that the leading outfits' bigger incomes are preserved.
"I understand that the new owners are typically going to do what new owners do, go out and raise revenue and cut costs," said Haas.
"And that's exactly what they'll do, and since we're on the cost side of it, it's a little nerve-wracking what they have in mind.
"On the other hand, F1 is kind of a crown jewel so maybe they'll tread lightly, and everything will work itself out."
Asked to expand on his comments, he said: "You know, most savvy businessmen in the US are public companies and it's bottom line, let's face it, it is very much to it, but since we're the newcomers in this business, our revenue stream from Formula 1 is nothing, so anything we get will be greatly appreciated.
"But I think we just have to be very very careful in how you redistribute the wealth because there are some teams at the top that have spent 50 years doing this, that have earned some entitlement to how the costs are distributed.
"I'm not saying that the teams at the bottom don't deserve more, but I'm still saying teams at the top deserve more.
"You can't just arbitrarily redistribute that because, quite frankly, winning races should come with rewards, and it should not be a socialistic-type structure."
Haas pointed out that these days it is much harder to find major sponsors, referencing his own experiences in NASCAR.
"The team owners are typically on the bottom rung of the income stream, and they're struggling - as viewership goes down, sponsors go down.
"It's been very very difficult in NASCAR, and I think to some degree that teams that rely on sponsorship are starting to find it's very very difficult to attract a major sponsor. A $25m sponsor is a huge sponsor.
"Today, that is practically non-existent. Most of the sponsors – at least I know from NASCAR, they're more in the $5m to $10m range and you have to have multiple sponsors on your cars at different races.
"There's some adaptability to that but at the same time there's a lot of demand from media, so how that money gets redistributed seems to be the question.
"But unfortunately the teams don't have a real strong position there to speak up about how it will get distributed, because we don't own Formula 1."
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