Liberty Media provides immediate financial assistance to Formula 1 teams

(Motorsport-Total.com) – No races, no income. This is the simple but bitter calculation of the Formula 1 teams during the corona crisis. This has prompted Formula 1 owner Liberty Media to take a special measure: As Greg Maffei, as managing director of the group, explained in a conference call, advance payments had been made to individual teams.

The teams are namely part of the income of Formula 1, but are currently struggling with the difficult difficulty for them that they have to keep their companies going without being able to run their core business – racing. Some racing teams have therefore registered short-time work and cut salaries.

Liberty Media wants to alleviate the financial no longer of individual teams with its advance. Maffei did not want to reveal who received which payments. He only said: “If possible, the money should not be spent senselessly.”

Why Liberty Media supports the teams financially

Liberty Media reserves the right to make further financial injections , at least “in some cases”. In addition, they are already working on measures “to offer help to teams that need help,” says Maffei. However, this help should not be understood as a policy of an open purse (from now on).

“The aim is to ensure that the teams are solvent Because they are part of it, changed into as soon as we need to 2020, 2021 and beyond to race “says Maffei.

And that brings us to the next question: When will Formula 1 races be expected again? Maffei says that depends on “many things”. “How quickly can you get a series to a 'clean' place, for example? There are a lot of variables involved.”

What plans do you have for the season 2020?

His team at Liberty Media are currently playing a lot different scenarios, “from zero races over 15 to 18 Races to races without fans, only with racing stables, “he explains. However, the planners were faced with “new hurdles” at every turn.

Maffei put it in a very practical way: “Tear [Carey] and his team have Many options, including [zum Beispiel]: How do you ask someone to host a replacement race on a specific date if you don't know if [das betreffende Land] will allow entry again? If you don't know the timing for it? “

Formula 1 is therefore keeping a very close eye to the extent to which the countries in Western Europe are loosening up their coronavirus regulations. “We are also looking at ways to start the season in America,” says Maffei. So far there are no guarantees, but one would at least try to start the season.

Just make no losses …

Above all that Formula 1 revenue have to generate. That is, for example, a teach in the targeted “ghost races” without an on-site audience. “Then the earnings decrease, maybe we don't make any earnings at all,” says Maffei. Liberty Media is financially so intestine that in case of doubt it can cope with a complete season loss. ( Get current cancellations and postponements in the Coronavirus ticker! )

“Of course, the teams still have to bear costs, especially those who do not have minimal guarantees from Formula 1. They depend to a large extent, if not to a large extent, on their income share in Formula 1 . “

To cover the resulting costs, that is the main focus. Maffei describes this task as a “challenge” and says: “This is one of the reasons why we are considering how we start [die Saison]. This is not only intestine for us, but also intestine for the economic system [Formel 1]. “

One of the questions that Liberty Media and its partners will have to answer in the coming weeks is:” How do we move something that fans benefit from, but that doesn't make teams go bankrupt because we run races that don't earn earnings? ” Maffei still has no answer to that.