McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh says every team will be eager to become shareholders in Formula 1
McLaren team boss and the chairman of Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), Martin Whitmarsh, has shown interest in becoming the share holder of the Formula 1 sport. He also said that all F1 teams will be eager to become partners in the sport.
Martin has said that squads would like to ensure that the sports ownership is in the right hands and the future of Formula 1 is secured. He said, “I think the teams want to ensure that first and foremost that we have stability, we want to ensure that the
sport is sustainable and to be sustainable you need the appropriate level of investment to promote and develop the sport.”
Whitmarsh said that CVC, the current owner of Formula1, has said recently that Formula 1 is not for sale but no one knows how things turn out in the future.
“I think it ultimately is desirable to have team ownership of commercial rights. CVC [the current owners] have claimed, or their representative has claimed, that they are not looking to sell, but there are not many venture capitalists who want to keep businesses
on their books infinitum,” added Whitmarsh.
Previously, a media group and EXOR, a company directly linked with the Ferrari team, have shown interest in buying the ownership of the Formula 1 sport. Whitmarsh has said it is not a major issue if one team has more share then others as long as the future
of the sport and teams is made a priority.
The Brit added that the current owner, CVC, are going to sell at some time and Formula 1 teams should be the first to take control of the sport before another investor gets involved. Formula 1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has denied the rumours for almost
two weeks but now the news has been made public by EXOR and FOTA looking into a Formula 1 buyout.
Formula 1 teams are going to sit in Stuttgart next week to decide the future of Formula 1 but Whitmarsh in convinced that the buyout will be successful and all teams will be eager to get their hands on some shares.
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