Wolff: Rival teams' public stance 'up the arse' of Liberty
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says some of the German outfit's rivals are pandering in public to Liberty Media when it comes to commenting the sport's new Concorde Agreement, but sounding off much more negatively in private.
Wolff went on record on Friday at Silverstone to say that Mercedes was currently unwilling to sign the all-important new Concorde document that will enforce F1's commercial, financial and governance terms from 2021.
However, Ferrari, McLaren and Williams stated on Friday that they were ready to put pen to paper as the August 12 deadline to seal F1's new Concorde deal looms.
Wolff refused to divulge the specific provisions in the covenant that Mercedes is rejecting, but the Austrian insists he's not the only one seeking changes to the document's fine print.
"I think most of the teams, if not 90%, are of the opinion that it needs cleaning up, that there are clauses that are critical that need to be discussed around governance and certain commercial aspects," Wolff told Sky Sports F1 on Friday.
"But we are not really able to engage. Some of these guys, when they come on camera, they are up the arse of the commercial rights holder.
"Then when we have them in the meeting, they are revved up and they are the loudest. I guess it's about manning up and expressing your opinion."
Wolff reflected Mercedes' goodwill in moving the matter forward.
"We love this sport, we have core objectives that we share with Liberty and with the FIA," he added.
"We all want to stay in this for the best of the sport, and it's all about to discuss [it]."
So far, Formula 1 has given no indication that it would be willing to extend the deadline in order to conduct additional negotiations with the teams. Quite the contrary.
"Formula 1 has engaged with all teams in a collaborative and constructive way and listened to all their views," F1 said in response to Wolff's comments.
"This agreement is important for the future of the sport and all our fans. We are moving forward with this and will not be delayed any longer."
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