The European parliament is to "back calls for an immediate investigation" into anti-competitive behavior in Formula 1, according to Rebecca Clancy of the LONDON TIMES. Areas of concern that have been raised by MEPs "are the unfair allocation of prize money that harms the smaller teams," an alleged conflict of interest over the recent sale of the sport to Liberty Media and the sport’s U.K. tax arrangements. Each year the parliament produces a competition report, which reviews the European Commission’s work on competition issues and "makes recommendations as to which it should focus on." Southeast England Labour MEP Anneliese Dodds added an amendment to this year's document, which said that the parliament "calls for an immediate investigation into competition concerns arising from the Formula One motorsport industry." She said, "You might think F1 is just for petrol-headed adrenaline junkies -- but actually it's important for our economy as well." The first issue raised by Dodds is that the "bigger teams get more money, no matter where they finish in the standings, leaving the smaller teams to struggle financially." Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Red Bull all receive extra prize money "simply for being more established than their competitors." Ferrari gets the "most for being the oldest team on the grid" (LONDON TIMES, 2/14). MOTORSPORT's Lawrence Barretto reported while the EU competitions commission is "not duty bound to launch an investigation, this latest development will increase the pressure for it to take action." Dodds said, "The problems in Formula 1 extend well beyond the allocation of prize money, with serious concerns being raised about an agreement with HM Revenue and Customs that allowed the sport to pay an effective 2% tax rate." Beyond the distribution of prize money and tax arrangements, Dodds "highlighted the conflict of interest" of F1's sale to Liberty Media, which saw the FIA "benefit financially once it had given its approval." She said, "There is also significant conflict of interest over the recent sale of the sport to Liberty Media, after the regulator received a $79.5 million profit from authorizing the sale" (MOTORSPORT, 2/14).
WRONG WAY: GMM reported F1 car designer Gian Paolo Dallara said that the series "is heading in the wrong direction" with its new '17 "aero package." The 80-year-old Dallara, whose company collaborates with the Ferrari-linked American Haas F1 Team, "doubts the much faster cars this year will actually make the racing better." He said, "As an engineer, I do not know why they decided to focus on higher downforce. Technically, it will make it almost impossible to overtake because no one will be able to follow the one in front of him. We complain about the lack of show in F1 and then go in the opposite direction" (GMM, 2/13).
