Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff says the finalised Concorde Agreement represents the “biggest transition F1 has ever seen”.
Earlier this month after months of haggling all 10 Formula 1 teams committed to the sport until the end of 2025.
The teams signed a new Concorde Agreement, the document that governs the commercial arrangements between the teams, F1 and the FIA.
The new Agreement, which runs from 2021 to 2025, ensures fairer distribution of prize money across the board, lays out the rules for the budget cap and the updated technical regulations.
Mercedes was one of the last team to sign.
Wolff says the new deal will herald the “biggest transition” that the sport has ever witnessed.
“We have always said that we wanted to stay in F1, so the agreement wasn’t necessarily all that surprising,” the Austrian said.
“But we’re happy that we could bring the negotiations to a positive conclusion.
“We are committed to our sport and we’re looking forward to the upcoming years which will see the biggest transition F1 has ever seen.
“This will reward agile, open-minded teams who can adapt successfully to the demands of the new rules.”
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Speaking to the press at the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, the Mercedes boss had expressed his disappointed with his rival team bosses, saying they had failed to “unite” to push through changes that Mercedes wanted.
As such Wolff made it clear that he would be signing because he basically had no choice.
“I’ve been pretty vocal after the meetings that we had within the team to say this is what we need and this are the clarifications we need in order to move forward but I’ve changed my opinion in Silverstone for exact reason I told you before,” he said.
“I don’t think that the teams will ever be united, everybody’s tried to achieve some little deals outside, there’s a blame culture in the media so we’ve decided to move forward with Liberty.
“I’ve had some very constructive discussions with Chase [Carey] over the last weekend and most of the clarifications that we wanted to achieve have been discussed and I feel that we are in a good point to sign the Concorde Agreement and move on.”
F1 boss Chase Carey is convinced the new deal will close the gap between the top and the bottom of the grid.
“All our fans want to see closer racing, wheel to wheel action and every team having a chance to get on the podium,” he said.
“The new Concorde agreement, in conjunction with the regulations for 2022, will put in place the foundations to make this a reality and create an environment that is both financially fairer and closes the gaps between teams on the racetrack.”
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