Liberty to introduce ’franchise’ model for F1 - Wolff

Liberty Media is looking into replacing the F1 teams’ current ’Concorde Agreement’-type commercial contracts with a franchise model.

That is the claim of Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, amid rumblings that early talks about the commercial direction of the sport post 2020 have already begun.

The current income distribution model, devised by the now-ousted former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, is highly controversial as it heavily weights payments to the richest teams and leaves the smaller outfits struggling for influence and survival.

What does seem clear is that Ecclestone’s ’Concorde’ agreements will be allowed to simply lapse.

"Liberty Media has a very good approach, namely that the Concorde Agreement, as it was formerly called, will no longer exist," Wolff told Austria’s ORF broadcaster.

"In principle, a team in future will have this ’franchise’ forever, which helps to add value because you do not have to renegotiate every eight years," he revealed.