As Liberty Media and Formula 1’s big teams square off for the battle of the future of the sport, Red Bull F1 chief Christian Horner says he expected there to be a stand-off of sorts regarding the exact road-map beyond 2020.
Horner said in an interview, “People don’t like change. Bernie ran this show for so many years, so tremendously successfully, but it’s a different management, different style and different objectives. Each team has to decide whether those objectives fit their vision of being a grand prix team.”
First to threaten a pullout, because of diverging views for the future of F1, were Ferrari who appear to have support from Mercedes and perhaps even Renault. The latter two less militant, but still enough for there two be two powerful camps at each end of the negotiating table.
Horner explained, “It’s inevitable as soon as you start talking about money. There’s a little bit of positioning and blustering going on at the moment, but I think everything that Liberty have done so far in their [tenure] has been positive. Hopefully, that will continue.”
While the three manufacturers involved currently in Formula 1 are at odds with what Liberty Media are proposing, Horner believes that Red Bull and F1’s new owners share similar objectives.
He pointed out, “Red Bull’s interests are all about putting on a great show, engaging with the fan and the consumer, allowing the drivers’ personalities to come through and that Formula 1 should be sport and entertainment rather than an engineering and technical challenge.”
“Of course technology has a place there but it used to be within reason, and I think those values are shared reasonably closely by Liberty,” confirmed the Red Bull team chief.