SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Wolff not worried about Liberty's income plans

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he is not worried about new F1 owner Liberty Media's plans to fundamentally change how prize money is distributed.

With the European Commission looking into the current arrangements after Force India and Sauber complained, new executive chairman Chase Carey has indicated the days of the bigger teams getting a much bigger slice of the cake are coming to an end.

"We have to try to find the right balance between the big and the small teams," Wolff told APA news agency.

"But we also have completely different tasks. The major teams have large companies behind them while some private teams are the hobbies of wealthy businessmen. So it's difficult to create equal conditions for everyone," he insisted.

"I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing but we are not worried."

Wolff said little can change straight away, anyway.

"The situation will remain stable until 2020," he insisted. "We have a bilateral agreement with Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA that we will continue to participate in the championship until 2020.

"This change of ownership will not affect that. In 2020, we will analyse everything again and take a decision," Wolff added.

(GMM)