F1 hands certain teams advance payments to protect 'ecosystem'

Teams are paid a percentage of F1's overall income, which has taken a major hit as more and more races are lost from the calendar.

The big players have some guaranteed fees under deals negotiated in the Bernie Ecclestone era, but those further down the field rely solely on a share of F1's ongoing profitability.

Maffei says that in order to help them through the current crisis some teams have received early payments.

"We have advanced money in advance of team payments for certain teams already.

"There are cases where we may do more of that; there are other things that we might do to bridge teams that might need help.

"We want to make sure that teams are solvent because they are part of what we need to race successfully in 2020, 2021, and beyond.

"We may be sufficiently capitalised to handle that for 2020, but there are teams which will incur costs, particularly those which don't have minimum guarantees from F1, and one of the major - if not their major - source of revenue is their share of the profits of F1.

"That's one of the reasons why we have to be thoughtful about how we begin, that's not only good for us, but good for the ecosystem."

Maffei stressed that races held behind closed doors would inevitably hit F1's income - and hence that of the teams - as such events won't involve a traditional host fee from promoters.

F1 is trying to plan a start to the season, even if that means races without spectators, in order to guarantee income from TV companies and its own sponsor partners.

"We have scenarios for zero races, anywhere from 15-18 races, races that begin with no fans present and only the teams," Maffei said in a call with Wall Street analysts.

"We are watching how the opening of certain events is happening in Western Europe, in certain countries, and looking at options around that that may [become] the start of the calendar.

"If you run races with no live audience, we'll obviously have lower profitability, maybe even no profitability.

"You're asking what it takes to get that going, it's not only when we are allowed by the authorities, and in what format with a TV race only or a fan race, but also how does it work for the teams?

"How do we do something that is beneficial for fans, but also doesn't have the teams bankrupting themselves by conducted no profit, or loss, races?

"We're not encouraging using our cash in an unwise fashion, but we're trying to balance the operating business and its current results against the operating results of our partners in the form of the teams, who do incur large costs."