Aston Martin boss Mike Krack says that the current teams have to “trust F1” to come up with the right financial package to reflect the arrival of the Cadillac entry in 2026.
Under the current Concorde Agreement a new team was obliged to pay a dilution fee of $200m to compensate the incumbent competitors for the potential loss of prize money over the course of that agreement.
The Andretti team won an entry bid to start in 2025-’27, and having missed the first date the renamed Cadillac outfit will start racing under a new Concorde Agreement in 2026.
The complication is that it is going through the entry process with the current Concorde in place, and the new one yet to be agreed by all the stakeholders.
However sources have indicated that while the current Concorde is theoretically in force the new team will pay a renegotiated fee, rather than the $200m.
A figure as high as $600m was mentioned as appropriate by some teams earlier this year. From what AutoRacer.it and other sources has learnt that $450m bid has been agreed between F1 and General Motors, which would give each current team a $45m bonus.
Krack indicated that the current teams do not know how much of a windfall they can now expect.
“Well, this came a little bit by surprise, or came a little bit unexpected,” he said when asked by AutoRacer.it about 11th team entry and the dilution fee.
“And I do not have so much information about it, to be honest, so I think we have to trust F1 there, FIA, how this is going to go.
“I don’t know about what payments are being made, or have to be made. I think this will have to be defined going forward. So, yeah, I can’t say much, except that we will have to trust F1 that this is going the way it should go.”
Williams boss James Vowles, who has previously expressed concerns about how much current teams will lose out, also said that he’s relying on the F1 organisation.
“I think first of all it’s a sign of how well the sport is doing that we have a major OEM like GM joining us,” he said.
“I think it’s just a sign of the growth, a sign of where F1 is going. I don’t think there’s actually any defined amount of dilution fee. I think that’s a part of the ’26 Concorde, which hasn’t been ratified at this point.
“What I’ve said all the way through is it will have financial loss for existing teams. What we have to do now is grow the sport sufficiently, and FOM need to be aware of that in order to make things good for everyone.”
He added: “This will have a large financial impact on the existing teams, but F1 are aware, and it’s down to them to put forward a correct proposal.”
VCARB team principal Laurent Mekies indicated that there was a bigger picture in that all teams could potentially have a slice of a larger pie that GM can help to grow.
“I think all together it’s a fantastic sign for the sport,” he said. “It’s going to be pretty much all car manufacturers, probably, except for Williams and us. Even Haas is also linked to a car manufacturer now.
“So it’s a battle of giants, and it’s another sign that the sport is going towards the direction of a battle of giants.
“And the details of the financials, they are still under discussions, and hopefully they become small in the big pictures of where the sport can go for its next level.”
