Protect us from ourselves on spending, F1 teams tell Carey

The F1 CEO says that the big players are spending so much purely because they have to match their rivals, and that the only way to slow it down is to tune the rules to reduce costs and stop unnecessary expenditure.

Carey and F1 sporting chief Ross Brawn see the post-2020 power unit regulations as the key to cutting expense.

In a recent meeting with the FIA and the four manufacturers – with Alfa Romeo and VW/Audi also represented – the basic format was agreed.

"We came out of a meeting a few weeks ago on the engines to sort of say we think we'd like the engine to be simpler, cheaper, louder," said Carey.

"This last generation became more expensive and complex, which is what enabled for a period Mercedes to build a better engine than everybody else.

"We want technology and engineering to be part of the sport, but it shouldn't be a defining part of the sport. You should get an edge, but first and foremost we still want the drivers to be the stars.

"What some of the teams spend on the sport today is an incredible amount, and they'll acknowledge it's an incredible amount. To some degree they're saying, 'We need to be protected from ourselves.'

"There are a handful teams that spend an extraordinary amount that aren't really spending to create something that enhances the consumer experience. What they're doing is spending because two other guys are spending it, so they've got to do it to compete with the other guys.

"And we want this to be healthier for all the teams, we'd like to be a healthy business for them. If we can manage the spending, the engine becomes part of that."

Simpler rules

Carey is adamant that technology plays too big a role at the moment, although he understands that it has always been part of the sport.

"On the track we'll do everything we can to make sure we're enhancing, making the competition great, making the action great, improving passing and other things.

"Let's not get too complicated, so fans can follow it. One of the things we keep saying to them is at the end of the day we're doing it for the fans, we're not doing it for the teams.

"We want first and foremost a simpler sport, sports entertainment, so you've got to make the entertainment great, and then enable fans to connect to it.

"The R&D part is an important part, again we don't want to lose the engineering aspects of it, but it shouldn't dominate it. Niki Lauda keeps saying to me we've got to let the drivers drive."

The real significance of controlling costs to Carey and his colleagues is that there is a bigger picture related to a revised distribution of income amongst the teams, once the current Concorde Agreement expires in 2020.

He has made it clear that reducing what teams have to spend will help to justify a cut in what they are paid.

"Costs and revenues are all inter related. You have to deal with it in pieces, but you want to start with a focus on the whole.

"So it's costs, revenue, rules, engines, which is why our real focus is that we want to make for everybody the business of owning a team a much better business proposition for everybody.

"There are certainly benefits for some of the teams in marketing, branding and other benefits that come out of it, but we think it's good for everybody, including us, to make the economics of owning a team much healthier. We're addressing that more holistically at this point."

He remains confident that the teams will fall into line, although he admits that agreeing on he details won't be easy.

"There is a real positive feeling amongst the teams, broad based. I'm sure as we get into specifics of how we execute it, things will be different. And that's our job, to find the common ground in the specific areas.

"But I think the teams are excited about the future, excited about trying to have a long-term vision for the sport, and excited about drafting some of the issues."