Ferrari, McLaren and Williams have committed their racing teams to Formula One until the end of 2025 after signing a new Concorde Agreement with the sport’s owners, Liberty Media, and its governing body, the FIA.
The deal is made up of two parts, one that determines the governance of the sport and another that dictates the commercial aspects of each team’s participation, such as the amount of prize money they are entitled to.
Known collectively within Formula One as the Concorde Agreement, it binds the teams to the sport. The latest version of the contract will run from 2021 to 2025.
“We are pleased to have signed up again to what is commonly known as the Concorde Agreement, which will regulate Formula One for the next five years,” Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri said. “It is an important step to ensure the stability and growth of the sport.
“We are very confident that the collaboration with the FIA and Liberty Media can make Formula One even more attractive and spectacular, while preserving its status as the ultimate technological challenge.
“Racing is in Ferrari’s DNA and it is no coincidence that the Scuderia is the only team that has participated in every edition of the FIA Formula One World Championship, becoming an integral and essential part of its success, today as in the past and, above all, in the future.”
F1 chariman Chase Carey added: “Scuderia Ferrari and Formula One have gone hand in hand since 1950 and we are happy that this relationship is set to continue for a long time, as it is part of the very DNA of this sport.
“In the path that has led to defining the new Concorde Agreement, we have been able to appreciate Ferrari’s constructive role, always aimed at making the pinnacle of motorsport stronger, fairer and more sustainable.
“Now the scene is set to work together to ensure Formula One is even more spectacular and attractive for the hundreds of millions of fans from around the world who love this sport.”
Rival teams are expected to agree to the new deal in the coming weeks, with Mercedes, which originally questioned the terms of the new deal, revealing at the last round in Spain that it too is ready to sign. The deadline for signatures is the end of August and F1 remains confident all ten teams will commit to the sport until 2025.
McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, said the new deal addresses his team’s concerns about inequalities in the sport, which have been in place under the existing Concorde Agreement since 2013.
“Formula One has taken another important stride on the road to a sustainable, strong future with the new agreement,” Brown said. “This is the right deal at the right time for the sport, its owners, its teams and, most of all, the fans.
“A more equitable sport is better for everyone: greater balance in the sharing of revenues among all the teams and clearer, simpler governance that cuts through vested interests and puts the sport first. This agreement will only make the F1 constructors collectively stronger in the long term.
“The new agreement complements and builds on the great work of F1, the FIA and all the teams during the past few months on the future financial, technical and sporting regulations. Everyone has had to give ground for the bigger outcome, which will be a more competitive, exciting and thriving Formula 1 for future generations, which in turn secures a healthy sport for both participants and fans alike.”
Williams deputy team principal, Claire Williams, added: “Our expectation, aligned with Liberty Media, is that this next era will be characterised by closer and more exciting racing as a result of the new platform of regulations, which include more equitable revenue distribution and a first ever cost cap for our sport. The Agreement is a major milestone in the development of Formula One, and also represents a significant opportunity for Williams to continue on our journey back towards the front of the grid.”
The signatures of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams are significant as they are the three longest-standing teams in the sport. Ferrari has won the most titles of all, with 15 drivers’ championships and 16 constructors’ championships and will take part in its 1000th championship race at Mugello in September.
FIA president Jean Todt, who is the former team principal of Ferrari, said it was important to have Ferrari committed to the sport.
“We are pleased that Ferrari is a signatory to the new Concorde Agreement, the three-way agreement that assures a stable future for the FIA Formula One World Championship,” Todt said. “This is the pinnacle of motorsport and it is natural that the most successful team ever in this series in which it has always been a protagonist, should continue to be so for many years to come.”