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F1 breakaway "realistic" according to Mercedes director

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has urged Formula One owners Liberty Media and the sport's regulator FIA to come up with an improved deal to avoid a breakaway championship.

Mercedes Executive Director Toto Wolff.
Mercedes Executive Director Toto Wolff. Reuters/Brandon Malone
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Wolff insists the prospect of a rival to the world's most glamorous sport is a "realistic" possibility and "could happen".

Parts of Liberty's plan for the sport beyond the expiry of the Concorde Agreement, which binds teams until the end of 2020, are being questioned by not only Mercedes but Ferrari too.

Ferrari for instance is unhappy with the proposed redistribution of prize money and the concept of a simpler engine.

"We are all carrying the torch of a great series and a great brand that was built forty to fifty years ago and has tremendous value," he told a news conference ahead of this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

"Everybody is trying to position themselves, but all the time with respect for the series.

"Comments that have been made by the Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne show that he cares - we all have a vision and perspective in Formula 1 and that is why these statements are being made."

Wolff, who has overseen the Lewis Hamilton-led Mercedes' dominance of F1 for the past four years.

"We just need to give our support in the best possible way to this great sport, regulated by the FIA and owned by Liberty, run by competent men, so we are not devaluing it."

Team principal of Red Bull, Christian Horner, said it was up to the FIA and Liberty to come up with a deal and present it to the teams.

"My view on this is very simple. Trying to get a consensus between teams of varying objectives and different set-ups is going to be impossible.

"Of course, there will be a lot of positioning, the media will be used. It is history repeating itself, it happens every five or six years every time the Concorde Agreement comes up for renewal.

"But my feeling is that Liberty Media along with the FIA need to get on the same page and say 'this is what we want it to be, here's the deal' and hand it around to the teams."

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