A NEW F1: Broadcasts, Teams, Tech, Mngmt changes, Venues, FIA/FOM etc.

[jgonzalesm6]

F1 will address costs before cutting team income - Brawn

Ross Brawn says Formula 1's new bosses will present the teams with a complete picture of the future of the sport before any redistribution of income can be agreed.

F1 chief Chase Carey and his colleagues have made it clear that they want to see a fairer spread of income once the current Concorde Agreement runs out in 2020.

The key to that ambition is convincing the bigger, best-paid teams to accepts reduced revenues on the basis that their costs will also come down as the rules are addressed.

As the head of the sporting side of F1, Brawn has been charged with coming up with a technical package, including a new engine for 2021, that will both reduce expenditure and increase competition.

"To have a discussion about remuneration with the teams is difficult if you don't present both sides," said Brawn. "We've got to present how we see the sport going forward in terms of the investment that the teams make, because it's substantial.

"I think it's fair to say that there's not a team in F1 that wouldn't welcome a reduction in costs. We're preparing our case and our proposals with the FIA to achieve that.

"We're building a team at the moment, and you'll see from the announcements we've made that the team is multi-faceted, and it's both technical people and commercial people."

Brawn revealed that former Honda, Brawn and Mercedes financial director Nigel Kerr – whose appointment was announced last month – has been tasked with studying current spending by teams, and demonstrating how that can change under a new rules package.

"Nigel's task will be to help build the financial models that can demonstrate hopefully the way forward for the teams in F1. So we're putting all that together.

"Clearly it's got to be in co-operation with the FIA. The FIA are the regulators of our sport, and they are the final arbiter of what goes on in the sport.

"We want to supplement and support those activities, and make proposals that we think are good for the sport. But the remuneration debate has to go hand-in-hand with how we control the costs, or the investments needed in F1."

Brawn also made it clear that while the aim is to close up the field in years to come, he doesn't want to completely undermine the established big players.

"I think one thing I'd like to say is that we don't want to dumb F1 down. I think F1 still has to be aspirational for the teams.

"We don't want all the teams to be exactly the same, in the respect that there should still be the aspirational teams, there should still be the Ferraris, there should still be the Mercedes, there should still be the Red Bulls, that teams want to aspire to beat.

"But we don't want domination. We need an environment where a team that does a really good job can do well. But we don't want a situation where financial power enables a team to get a dominant position, as has happened in the last few years."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...-brawn-916194/

[jgonzalesm6]

Williams deny reports of 2018 Honda engine talks

McLaren-Honda on the rocks but Claire Williams insists "we are not a cause of the break-up" after report claimed 2018 deal with them.

Williams are not considering switching to Honda power for 2018, according to Claire Williams.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...a-engine-talks

[jgonzalesm6]

Monisha Kaltenborn leaves Sauber as Swiss team's struggles continue

Kaltenborn was Sauber CEO and the first female team principal in F1

Sauber and team principal Monisha Kaltenborn have parted ways, according to Sky sources.

Kalnteborn became the Swiss team's CEO in 2010 when Peter Sauber rebuilt the stable he had sold to BMW five years earlier, and she became a part owner when buying shares in 2011.

In 2012 the Indian-Austrian became Formula 1's first female team principal, but she has now left her Sauber post, meaning the team currently ninth in the constructors' standings have no boss heading into the Azerbaijan GP.

During her time in charge, and since becoming an independent team again seven years ago, Sauber have struggled to deliver consistently as a midfield outfit, with their only two podiums coming in 2012.

Kaltenborn oversaw one of F1's strangest scandals in 2015 when Sauber technically went into the season-opening Australian GP with three main drivers, with Giedo van der Garde insistent that he was signed up for the upcoming campaign.

Sauber stuck to their new partnership of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr in Melbourne and for the rest of the year, and had to pay Van der Garde's a significant compensation fee for him to relinquish his contract.

Eighth and tenth-place finishes in the Constructors' Championship have followed that dispute, with Sauber's only victory coming back in 2008 thanks to Robert Kubica's Canadian GP triumph.

Sauber have endured years of financial troubles and, amid speculation that they could fold, Kaltenborn oversaw the sale of the team to Swiss based investment firm Longbow Finance last year. Though she kept her post as CEO and team principal at the time, owner Peter Sauber stepped down.

After the Manor F1 team folded at the end of 2016, Sauber were expected to be the backrunners for the season - though Pascal Wehrlein's crucial four points in Spain means McLaren are currently at the bottom of the standings.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...s-struggles-co

[jgonzalesm6]

F1: UK's 2019-24 pay TV deal 'immutable'

Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches has admitted that the sport will not be shown on free-to-air (FTA) TV in the United Kingdom from 2019 through at least 2025, given Sky's "immutable" deal.

Formula 1 was shown on FTA TV in the UK until 2011, when Sky Sports acquired live rights, with the BBC showing half of the Grands Prix live and the remaining half delayed, in highlights form.

Channel 4 took over the BBC's half of the contract in 2016, but last year Sky announced that it had secured exclusive rights from 2019 to 2024, with only the British Grand Prix set to be live on FTA.

Bratches previously intimated that a "hybrid" of PPV (Pay Per View) and FTA would be preferable, with the situation to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, dependent on territory.

Sky's new deal with Formula 1 was concluded under previous management, prior to Liberty Media's takeover in January, but Bratches has confirmed that there will be no changes until at least 2025.

"That deal is immutable," Bratches confirmed to select media, including GPUpdate.net, at the FIA Sport Conference in Geneva.

"That deal is an agreement that we inherited, and these deals are done between two adult parties at an arm's length distance.

"So my suspicion is that Sky is very happy with that deal and we're going to honour and respect the deals that were in place when we arrived."

Bratches added that it is too early to speculate on the approach Liberty Media will take once Sky's revised contract comes to an end in 2024.

"I think we'll have to make an assessment of where our brand is at that point in time," he said on future plans.

"There's other leagues – and you know who I'm talking about – around the globe that are actually going full pay and they feel that their brand is at a point where they can actually afford to do that, notwithstanding the fan and the sponsor angle.

"So we'll make that assessment at that time, but I think it's premature – the deal hasn't even started, it will start in two years – to speculate what we will do on the backside.

"But central to the thesis of our management of this extraordinary property is to serve the Formula 1 fan and we're going to do that with rigour in everything we do."

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/354775/

[jgonzalesm6]

Well ladies and gents.......looks like China wants to make a team in F1!!! Yep, you heard me right China!! They have already petitioned for a team via letter. As to when they will,

Todt admits it is unrealistic to put a team as soon as 2018.

Intrigue around new Chinese F1 team revs up

Intrigue about the possibility of an 11th team entering Formula 1 ramped up on Wednesday when a new name was registered in Britain and the FIA confirmed it had been sounded out about a slot on the grid.

There have been rumours for several weeks that new contenders were pondering getting involved in grand prix racing, but no firm plans had been revealed.

However, an update of Britain's Companies House register has revealed the renaming of a business as China F1 Racing Team Limited.

The company, which had previously been called Bronze Fortune Limited, is run by a French lawyer called Michael Orts, who has competed in sports car racing in Europe and America.

Little is known about the plans and Orts was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday about whether this was a serious bid to get on the grid.

However, speaking at the FIA Sport Conference in Geneva on Wednesday, president Jean Todt confirmed that the governing body had been approached by some individuals regarding a future entry.

"There are always rumours, but we have had some interest from some teams," said Todt.

When asked to give more detail on the number, Todt said simply: "Not many."

It is up to the FIA when it chooses to open up the tender process to new teams, and Todt said it would only do so if there were serious candidates.

"When we feel it is time we will be able to make a tender," he said.

"At the moment we have ten teams and the idea is to have up to 12 teams. So we have an opportunity, if we have one or two strong newcomers it could be possible."

He added: "First we need to check ourselves the request. It's going through a kind of audit to see who are the potential buyers.

"If it's a big manufacturer, it's easy, if it's a privateer, you need to be more careful. And then, once you are sure that there is a real interest, and once you're sure that people are able, like it was the case with Haas, for example, then we make tender."

Todt was adamant, however, that it was unrealistic to expect a new team to be put together as soon as 2018.

"No, it would be foolish to think that a new team would be ready in eight months, even less."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/n...trigue-921128/