Andretti F1

[Ruslan]

Bottom post of the previous page:

If F1 is a competition sanctioned by a public body (the FIA) then it must be open to everyone who complies with the rules of the game, the Concorde Agreement is in breach of competition law, competition law experts have been saying this for years, and now FOM has found some politicians with some guts... Formula 1 has been run like an old boys club for too long, it's about time that someone stopped this nonsense

This just needed bolding.

[Ruslan]

Quote from representative John James (R - MI):

“If you want access to our markets, if you want access to our fans, you must grant access to our companies. You must grant access to our automotive workers. You must grant access to Americans themselves,”

[Ruslan]

Here is the background of the 12 congressmen who signed the letter to FOM: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 5f035&ei=5

The most infamous is Ronny L. Jackson, Trump's former White House physician.

[Ruslan]

Oh, and by the way, the founder and largest shareholder of Liberty Media, John C. Malone, donated $250,000 to Donald Trump, although he has apparently changed his tune in 2020: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/21/media-m ... mberg.html

The president of Liberty Media, Greg Maffei, donated $250,000 in 2017 to Donald Trump inauguration committee: Here are his political contributions in 2016: https://www.campaignmoney.com/political ... p?cycle=16

Here is the board of directors of Liberty Media: https://www.libertymedia.com/about/board-of-directors

Anyhow, American company based in Colorado, hosting three races in the U.S. I think they are subject to U.S. law, even if FOM is UK based (and FIA is based in France). I believe FOM is fully owned by Liberty Media.

[Ruslan]

YouTube video of the Andretti press conference 6 days ago:



It is rocking. Two congressmen (one is from Ukraine), two aids, one photographer and at least one person the audience. 118 views in 6 days.

[Everso Biggyballies]

What I dont understand is where this US Congress issue can go beyond a PR campaign. Whilst the Formula One Group (FOM is the commercial part of that) is majority owned by Liberty, the business itself remains a UK. Registered business operating under the UK legal system. Having said that some individual parts of the group seem to be registered in Luxembourg and other European countries. All too confusing for me and I am presuming deliberately set up in this manner to promote confusion and uncertainty by Bernie.

What surprises me is that the person shown by F1 as the Chief Financial Officer is the same person who has held that position since 2002 through all the ownership changes. As is the Group Chief Legal Officer. Both employed back in the Bernie days and still no doubt of great influence.

Duncan Llowarch – Chief Financial Officer
Duncan Llowarch was named Chief Financial Officer at Formula 1 in 2002, and has continued to serve in this role following Liberty Media Corporation’s acquisition of the business in 2017, having previously worked as CFO under various owners, including CVC Capital Partners..

Also the Chief Legal Officer of the Group, Sacha Woodward Hill has had that control for even longer.

Sacha is the General Counsel and a member of the board of directors at Formula 1. Her responsibilities include the oversight of Formula 1’s legal, compliance, brand protection, human resources and administration functions. She was recruited to join Formula 1 as a lawyer in 1996 by its founder Bernie Ecclestone and she has been its chief legal officer since 2000. Under her leadership, F1’s legal team has adapted and grown into a broad-based team of highly-skilled lawyers who support F1’s activities worldwide with legal advice, deal negotiation and risk management.
Sacha is a practising solicitor admitted in England and Wales. Before joining Formula 1 in 1996, she worked in several well-known London law firms.

https://corp.formula1.com/team/

Those two individual, plus Domenicali are the only three people listed as the Key Management of F1! (on the link above)

[Ruslan]

What I dont understand is where this US Congress issue can go beyond a PR campaign.

Well, Liberty Media is a U.S. located and owned company and there are three grand prix in the U.S.

Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who was in the video I posted, is a member of the Judiciary committee. Her presence there was significant. A House committee can certainly investigate Liberty, including subpoenaing John C. Malone and Greg Maffei to testify (and they cannot refuse a subpoena unless they want to serve jail time like Peter Navarro is and Steve Bannon is about to). So yea, this is more than just a PR campaign.

Then there is anti-trust legislation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... itrust_law

Do not know the limits of that, especially as it applies to sporting series, but the last thing Liberty Media will want to deal with is a congressional hearing on anti-trust violations and possibly a future indictment. There are probably a lot of teeth behind that snarl.

Now, the congressmen leading the charge are Republicans, and both Malone and Maffei have contribute to (at least $250K) and supported Donald Trump or the Republican Party, so most likely people will work something out long before it turns into a political, investigative or legal circus, but this is something that they have to take seriously.

[Ruslan]

Oh, and Jim Jordan (R-OH), the chairman of the House Judiciary committee is now involved: https://www.grandprix.com/news/us-congr ... ay-21.html

"Now, NBC News reports that an investigation of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, chaired by well-known politician Jim Jordan, has been triggered."

"In a new letter addressed by Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, Jordan wrote that he suspected Andretti was being excluded purely for financial reasons."

"Jordan's letter also asked F1 to produce evidence relating to the process for evaluating the entry of new teams by May 21."

So, they will need to respond by 21 May. It would be foolish not to.

[Ruslan]

For example, there is an antitrust lawsuit filed in the U.S. against the CHL (Canadian Hockey League): https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/a ... s%20Unions.

Eight of their 60 teams are U.S. based and the organization is Canadian based and Canadian owed. Also, this was a privately filed lawsuit, which is also an option for Andretti. Going through congress has the advantage that it will get results sooner and we could well see Andretti on the grid in 2026..

[P. Cornelius Scipio]

I don't want to go into boring details but any jurisdiction has the power to take action if they deem that someone is stifling economic competition within their jurisdiction. One key example is the EU Commission which constantly fines Apple/Microsoft etc for their anti competition shenanigans. By the very same token US authorities are looking into this because what they are saying is that FOM is barring an US entity (Andretti) from entering the FIA F! World Championship, while F1 holds several races in the US, therefore disrupting competition.

As I wrote other times, the very same remarks about F1 in general and the Concorde Agreement have been raised by the EU Commission in the past (the difference being that the EU Commission couldn't be bothered to take action)