MEP calls for European Union intervention in F1

The latest indictment of the F1 system comes directly from the European Parliament, precisely by the English MEP Anneliese Dodds, worried about the possible loss of jobs of entire English families (except Ferrari, all the teams have their own factory in south-east England).

At the beginning of the year Dodds wrote to Margarethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition in the current Juncker Commission, to point out that F1 could be subject to cases of maladministration and violation of Community law. Alarmed by the failure of Caterham and Marussia, the Dodds investigated the link between revenue distribution and the needs of individual teams, coming to the conclusion that the F1 system is too much to the advantage of the larger teams, in violation of the principles of free competition.

The MEP recently visited the headquarters of the Force India at Silverstone, and intervened on the issue, specifying that for a serious intervention by the European Union a formal complaint by a team would be needed: “The Commissioner for Competition Vestager explained to me that the EU cannot move unless there is a formal complaint from an interested party. After what happened at Carterham and Marussia I am very worried about the way things are going in F1. It's not "just" two teams that leave a championship, but hundreds of people who suddenly lose their jobs. That's why I raised the issue in Brussels, to see if there are any competition violations. Here at Force India I realized how this work is of the highest technological, qualitative and engineering profile, and we cannot afford the luxury of losing it."

Under accusation, therefore, are the agreements between FOM (Ecclestone) and the various teams for the distribution of commercial rights (TV, sponsors) and sporting "prizes". Agreements that would be too unbalanced in favor of the top teams, in defiance of community principles on the free market and the protection of competition.

Antonino Rendina

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