Belgian MEP urges European Commission to investigate F1’s rights owner Liberty Media over fair competition
F1 owner Liberty Media has been alleged by Belgian MEP Pascal Arimont for unfair trade practices in the European Commission.
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F1 and Liberty Media, images via IMAGO and Wikipedia
F1 commercial rights owner Liberty Media has been at the receiving end of criticism in the last few years. With teams and Formula One Management(FOM) intending to keep the number of outfits on the grid the same, they have been accused of monopolistic tendencies earlier this year. Now, Belgian Member of Parliament, Pascal Armiont, has urged the European Commission to inquire about the trade practices used by Liberty Media.
Since F1’s takeover in 2017 by Liberty Media, the sport has witnessed a massive surge in popularity. This has made the teams’ value skyrocket from $200-400 million to most of the teams now valued over billions of dollars.
However, this has had an unintended repercussion in the form of teams not being open to new manufacturers getting into the sport, the FOM recently rejected the Andretti-Cadillac bid. This has made F1 appear as practicing unfair trade practices as other teams are not allowed to participate in the competition.
Commercial agreements make it very difficult for new teams to join, perhaps by illegally limiting competition.
Pascal Arimont wrote to the European Commission as quoted by Formula Passion
With the European Commission possibly interested in investigating Liberty Media, a change in earlier policies might take place. However, the rest of the 10 teams would have to agree to get a new manufacturer on the grid, which most of the teams have shown disagreement upon.
Will Liberty Media’s MotoGP takeover also come under fire?
Earlier this year, the American corporation had announced that it had finalized the deal to buy MotoGP. Since then, updates regarding the takeover from Dorna have vanished as the deal was surrounded by the uncertainty of international laws and approvals.
However, Liberty Media President, Greg Maffei, explained that the deal is still on and is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Regulatory filings are progressing on track. We’ve received foreign investment control clearance in both jurisdictions needed, Italy in Spain, and we recently received merger clearance in Brazil and Australia. We continue to expect the transaction to close by year-end.
Greg Maffei said in an interview as quoted by Speedcafe
On the other hand, the F1 circus would continue from next week at the US Grand Prix in Austin. Lando Norris would be hoping to make a further charge into Max Verstappen‘s lead going into the last six races of the 2024 season.
Thus, the next two months would be crucial in deciding who would become the world champion. Whether Britain would get another driver’s world champion or Verstappen would continue his reign in F1.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)