16 March 2023
Toto Wolff said, ‘Team principals trying to manipulate what is being said to keep the competitive advantage and trying to play political games when the FIA tries to come up with a quick solution, to at least put the cars in a better position, is disingenuous.’
Formula 1s political composition is a triumvirate of the F1, a company currently owned by Liberty Media, the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), the governing body and thirdly, the ten teams.
Each team has a senior manager or principal; some lesser teams share engines with the major teams, such as Mercedes with Williams and Aston Martin.
The ,big three ; team principals are Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Christian Horner (Red Bull) and Frédéric Vasseur (Ferrari), who are usually involved in the main political fights.
Formula 1 is like an Iceberg, with the drivers above the water line and F1 and the FIA below.
Recently there have been several political issues washed out in public.
A particular member of the FIA proposed increasing the number of F1 teams from ten.
Also, the FIA has recently updated its rules to prevent drivers from making ‘political, religious or personal’ remarks without prior approval.
Nonetheless, F1s governance structure requires a super majority of eight teams, plus the FIA and F1, to agree to enact a rule change.
The only exception is Ferrari, which, due to its historical significance to the sport, has veto power under the Concorde Agreement, the commercial contract between F1 and the teams.
