Will anyone actually be happy with F1 2021?

Exactly a year ago, Chase Carey and his Formula 1 colleagues unveiled their 2021 vision in a presentation to the teams in Bahrain. After 12 months of discussions, mainly on an individual team-by-team basis, the first comprehensive update came at a meeting in London last week.

It was flagged in advance by none other than FIA president Jean Todt as a day of some significance and, at the end of it, nothing emerged from the governing body by way of an update. And the only snippet released by F1 was a short story on its own website that did little more than note that the event had taken place.

The London gathering was actually two regularly scheduled meetings. It began with the Strategy Group - which encompasses F1, the FIA and all 10 teams. Four teams are technically present only as observers, and cannot vote. It was there that Carey, Ross Brawn and Jean Todt made their main presentation.

That was followed by the F1 Commission, which includes promoters - currently represented by Bahrain, Monaco, and Hungary - plus tyre supplier Pirelli and sponsor representatives. They do not need to know about the nitty-gritty of team payments and so on, so they received a summary of where F1 is heading.

A 2021 discussion didn't have to take place within this formal framework, especially as no voting was scheduled to take place. But the fact it did was an indication that things are beginning to gather momentum, and that Liberty's plans are firm - especially in its stance on the two key pieces of financial business: a more equitable revenue distribution and a cost cap that pegs back the three top teams.

"It's been arrived at with a lot of discussions," Ross Brawn told Sky F1. "Everyone's view has been heard. If we take the cost cap, we've had three or four people working on it, the FIA have had two or three people, we've had Deloitte working on it.

"It has been a year of work, the teams have that now. They are incredibly comprehensive. We've made massive progress since this time a year ago and we're very close to saying 'this is it' now. 'This is where we want to be'. There is still some room for discussion but I think the picture is clear."

Two key themes emerged in any conversation about the current state of play - timing and compromise

The lack of any official information after the meeting was an indication that nothing was agreed or signed on the day, and as such, there has been little movement, albeit with more details now refined.

It also reflected the fact that Carey is determined to keep discussions behind closed doors. Coming from the 'normal' business world he's been exasperated by how much information emerges in the F1 paddock, and he always makes it clear that those present at meetings should not give away details.

But in Bahrain, the team principals were willing to provide a snapshot and the consensus was that progress has been made over the past 12 months. Mercedes's Toto Wolff praised a "good meeting" in which "Liberty and the FIA were very clear, they presented us their view on cost caps, prize fund distribution, on the technical regulations, on the sporting regulations.

"That is good because we are moving forward," he continued. "Now we are able to digest, comment, and come back to them."

Zak Brown, McLaren's CEO, added that the information was "expected" in terms of the budget cap, revenue distribution, governance and technical rules, stating that the meeting was a "positive" step in the right direction.

Renault's Cyril Abiteboul was much more guarded, saying: "I don't want to give any indication, positive or negative.

"The only thing I can say is it's been an answer, it's been an exhaustive set of proposals, it's been a long presentation.

"Lots of effort put by everyone, FIA and FOM, to come up with a set of measures that generally go in the direction of all the things that have been discussed. There is no scoop, there is no headline, there is no major surprise.

"It's refinements, another level of detail, and there will be further levels of detail. And you know how much details matter in a sport that's as complex as F1.

"You would not be able to say that nothing has happened since last year, it's not possible. Much has happened in the way that things can work."

Two key themes emerged in any conversation about the current state of play - timing and compromise. After a year of shuttle diplomacy, Carey now has to push on and get a hugely complex global package agreed and signed off in the form of a new Concorde Agreement.

The deadline, as set out in the FIA's International Sporting Code, is June. But the big question mark on timing concerns the technical regulations, which could be postponed until December.

But it's not just a matter of governance technicalities. For obvious reasons teams need to know as soon as possible where they are heading in terms of income and expenditure, and how that, in turn, impacts the structure of their organisations.

"There has definitely been progress in that we now have a deal in front of us to react to," said Brown. "I think it's been well thought out. We've all been consulted and we'd just emphasise timing now is of the essence so we can all get prepared - but the ball is really in our court for that."

Haas's Gunther Steiner has pushed for things being "done quicker rather than later".

"And," he continued, "on the other side, to answer the question 'did we make progress?' Yes, we made progress but progress you cannot only see in, 'is the new document better than the old one?'

"It's also progress for the FIA, FOM and us to have a better understanding of each other, what we want to achieve and what can be achieved with the different models we are getting out there.

"So, I think there has been a lot of progress made, not actually in what is offered but in the understanding of what needs to be done that everybody agrees. And that is not written on paper."

In contrast to Steiner, Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer is more relaxed than some of his colleagues in terms of urgency.

"It's a big thing, and we've got until the middle of June to get it done, so there's still time," said Szafnauer.

"The good news is that in F1 we're used to working quickly and fast. I think we've made a lot of progress.

"Finally we saw the governance piece, which is also important for the future, so there needs to be some feedback on that - some tweaking to make sure that's all right.

"There's a lot of consultation of all the teams and the stakeholders that has happened leading up to this, so it's not just that they are off in a vacuum coming up with rules, cost cap, money distribution, take or leave it.

"That's not how it happened. It's gone through 'churn, process, feedback, change' for the last year. So one year of doing that, and now we've got until June. Another three months is enough time."

As someone present pointed out, in effect the only man at the London meeting who can make his own call on the big picture was Szafnauer's colleague - Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll.

Everyone else has a board or shareholders or owners to answer to in one form or another. There will be a lot of discussions going on as the Liberty blueprint is properly assessed, and those teams decide whether or not to sign up for the 2021 package.

"In my opinion, the most pressing topics are related to the business side of things," said Abiteboul. "Financial regulations, a budget cap, money distribution, but also governance, because that's what's affecting our business model.

"We are small and medium businesses, we need to shape our structure, we need to see how we can make the whole business model work, and be satisfactory for our sponsors, our partners, for our shareholders, our parent company.

"The cost cap is always a balance between having a lower level and not damaging any of the big teams structurally, which we will not allow" Toto Wolff

"Now we have better visibility of how it looks like."

Ferrari's Mattia Binotto, a newcomer to the high-stakes poker game to which Wolff and Christian Horner are well attuned, was a little more cautious on timing.

"I think that we are collaborating well with both FIA and F1," he noted. "The process is still ongoing. There are still points where there is some distance compared to their position and what we believe should be the right Ferrari position, but we are still discussing.

"For us, it is more important to make sure we've got the right agreements, and we should not be caught by time."

The new revenue model is designed to level the financial playing field, and inevitably that is the major concern for Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, who have done so well under the current arrangements that were agreed with Bernie Ecclestone.

Liberty has made it clear that, in the future, performance will be rewarded, and under the new model results achieved over the past 10 years will be taken into consideration. How Racing Point as - technically - a new team fits into that structure remains to be seen.

Ferrari, long singled out as a special case in the Concorde, will continue to be rewarded for being F1's longest-serving entrant - but the bonus won't be as lucrative as it once was.

"You have to recognise Ferrari in F1, they are the oldest team," Brawn explained. "They are the biggest brand in F1, and I think all the other teams recognise that Ferrari is important to F1.

"It's one of the reasons why some teams are involved in F1. I worked for 10 years at Ferrari, I understand the importance of Ferrari. But it has to be reasoned, has to be balanced."

The cost cap impacts those same three big teams. Ferrari and Mercedes want as much leeway as they can get, and the numbers involved have indeed crept upwards.

Meanwhile Red Bull is keen to ensure that as manufacturers its two main rivals don't manage to sneak an advantage through utilising extra resources.

"I think the cost cap is needed to contain our expenditure," said Wolff. "And it's always a balance between obviously having a lower level and not damaging any of the big teams structurally, which we will not allow.

"But we also understand that in order to reduce the margin of performance between the teams it needs to happen, and that's why we are very open-minded and collaborative to assess the right level, together with the FIA."

Aside from timing the other buzzword is compromise. Every team has a different financial structure, a different business model, and different priorities.

One team boss suggested privately that Liberty still doesn't fully understand the nuances of those differences, while others made it clear that after the London meeting everyone had something to be unhappy about.

"It's probably not an ideal situation for any of the 10 teams," said Brown. "But given that you have 10 teams you're never going to land on something that works for all. So I think the fact that it's maybe not perfect for any one team means that [Chase] got it pretty right."

Steiner echoed Brown's sentiment by saying "I don't envy them trying to find the compromise between us 10, but somebody has to do it, and they will get it done."

There's still plenty of arm-wrestling to come, but the intention is that F1 ends up stronger in 2021.

"This going to end up being a compromise," said Szafnauer.

"A lot of people have said 'with every good compromise no one's really happy', and I can see that. From our perspective, I think the FIA and FOM are trying to do the right thing.

"They're trying to bring the field closer together, trying to make the sport less costly, introducing a cost cap so that if we do really well on revenue and sponsorship there's a bit of profit at the end, and the sport is sustainable.

"And the other underlying thing is it's got to stay at the pinnacle of motorsport, which is great. What's wrong with that? It's just how do you do it.

"The 'how do you do it' bit will inevitably upset somebody, no one's ever going to be [completely] happy."