Force India did not receive this month’s Formula 1 prize money payment and does not know if it will get one in October.
The team’s right to a share of F1’s prize money has been in doubt since it went into administration during the summer break and returned to F1 as a new entry called ‘Racing Point Force India’. Some of its rival teams have not agreed to let it continue receiving the money which was earned by the team in its previous guise as ‘Sahara Force India’.The ‘column one’ prize money payment, which is made to all teams which participated in two of the previous three seasons, is worth around $3 million per month to each team.
Team principal Otmar Szafnauer confirmed when asked by RaceFans the team did not receive the payment at the beginning of September, following its return to F1 at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 26th. “It wasn’t quite solidified then,” he explained.
Teams receive prize money in a series of monthly payments which are based on revenue projections, then receive a final ‘balancing payment’ in March. Szafnauer indicated any missed revenue could be made up then. “It could go for months and you still get the back-pay,” he said. “There’s a reconciliation that happens.”
Szafnauer said he expects Force India’s payments will resume next month. “Last month was extraordinary circumstances with the administrators and other things. I feel confident it will happen. But I won’t know for sure until Monday.”
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2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
JC
28th September 2018, 22:53
This is Bernie’s legacy. Roll on 2021+
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
28th September 2018, 23:20
According to the recent article by Dieter and Keith (@dieterrencken, @keithcollantine) mentioned above, the current rule is “New entries to the sport do not receive ‘Column 1’ money until they have finished in the top 10 in two out of three consecutive seasons.” I suspect that means they won’t get payments until 2020. I don’t see any justification for such a rule, if a team’s cars line up on the starting grid then they should be paid a Column 1 payment. However, that is the rule Liberty Media inherited from the previous owners. I think LM should have revoked that rule as soon as they owned F1, but they didn’t. So when a situation developed “out of the blue”, although it wasn’t out of the blue at all, this situation was foreseeable for at least a year, Liberty Media were caught off guard. After reading that recent article again, it seems to me this isn’t a case where the rule has been revoked, rather it is a case where LM are asking everyone to approve them breaking the rules for one team. Haas said they were waiting for an explanation as to why they should give their consent for that to happen. As far as I know they haven’t consented to this, so I don’t see how LM can authorise payments to RPFI until some time in the 2020 season.
Bridge Wilson (@gwbridge)
29th September 2018, 1:08
And I don’t see why RPFI, as a new corporate entry, should be excused from the obligation other teams have had, including HaasF1. I think it will take at least one more bogus disqualification to slap Gene Haas back into line. Maybe two. /s
For a while, I was confident that Liberty Media would take a fresh look at this business venture they own and make a fresh start in 2021. “Their hands are tied until 2021,” I would say. Now, as they make concession after concession to the status quo and let Ferrari and Mercedes run the show, I have very little confidence that anything will change. I knew Todt and the FIA had no backbone, but I thought that if LM and the FIA supported each other they might be able to get off their knees. Not happening.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
29th September 2018, 5:47
The summarize of the two comments: