One Formula 1 team’s existence could be threatened under next Concorde Agreement

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The next Formula 1 Concorde Agreement won’t come into effect until 2026, but it might spell bad news for AlphaTauri – now known as Visa Cash App RB.

Red Bull’s sister team, currently being referred to internally as V-CARB are a unique outfit within F1.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Ben Anderson has suggested that the relationship between the two teams might cause them some issues in the near future.

The Concorde Agreement is essentially a contract between the FIA – Formula 1’s governing bodies, The Formula One Group who represent the media side of the sport and the participating teams.

It covers things such as how television revenues and prize money are shared out and the terms by which teams compete in Grand Prix.

The agreement creates the framework within which the sport exists and is typically rewritten every five years, with the contents of the agreement expected to remain a secret.

The current Concorde Agreement – agreed in 2021 – ends at the end of 2025 and if a new one is required for 2026 then Visa Cash App RB might have a problem.

There are already rumblings among other team bosses that their relationship with Red Bull is questionable.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown isn’t a fan and Damon Hill agreed with his thoughts.

However, Mercedes technical director James Allison believes that the rules are already tight enough to stop the two teams from sharing too much important information.

New Concorde Agreement could spell trouble for Visa Cash App RB

Speaking about the situation, Anderson said: “I think speaking more broadly, they need to obviously continue the quite impressive development gradient they were on at the end of last season.

“So impressive that it started to make other teams twitchy in terms of how they were able to make such progress.

“And that probably feeds into one of the bigger, wider concerns that team has or will have which is the political battle that’s coming over shared ownership and second teams.

“As teams start to negotiate the new Concorde [Agreement], that team could be under threat in terms of its existence now.

“And that’s quite a big thing to have on your plate when you’re an incoming team principal.

“Obviously they’ve changed management now so you’ve got Peter Bayer as the CEO working with Laurent Mekies as the team principal.

“Franz Tost is stepping down, that whole thing is in transition from a bigger picture perspective and that is something that is going to distract them through the year and beyond in terms of the day to day.”

The end of the current Concorde Agreement will approach quickly and Visa Cash App RB will want to know where they stand sooner rather than later.

Formula 1 can’t really afford to lose another team, especially as Andretti’s proposed introduction to the grid isn’t moving quickly.

If F1 was left with just 18 cars, it would start to take away from the spectacle even if V-CARB aren’t challenging regularly for race wins and podiums.

It will be interesting to see where the rest of the grid falls on this issue.

Haas and Ferrari may be wary that their relationship could come under the same microscope if they’re not careful.