Zak Brown's bold advice to Liberty Media

As Formula 1 faces a decisive period of discussions over its future regulations, Zak Brown is urging its managers to do adopt a firm stance and do first and foremost what is right for the sport.

An initial proposal for F1's 2021 regulations which was tabled last November was met with a fair amount of skepticism by the top teams, with Ferrari even threatening to pull out of F1.

Brown has predicted a turbulent period ahead as political discussions heat up, but believes Liberty Media should not compromise in the face of eventual opposition from F1's top teams.

"I think Liberty needs to focus on what is best for the sport and what is best for the fans," Brown said at a media event in Woking on Thursday.

"If that means a team or a manufacturer doesn't support that, then they need to be prepared to recognise that they are not going to make everyone happy.

"Their centering needs to be on what is best for the sport. I would rather lose one [team], replace them and have 10 teams, than have one or two teams [only] in the championship."

• Zak Brown: Liberty-Ferrari showdown is inevitable

Mercedes appears to be on the same page as Ferrari with regard to its opposition to the future regulation proposal, although the German manufacturer has adopted a more conciliatory attitude.

Asked if Liberty should proceed with its vision of the future, even if it meant losing both manufacturers, Brown doubted such an outcome would come to pass.

"I think that is highly unlikely, but I think anything is possible. Therefore we need to land on a set of rules that allow those that are looking at the sport to be able to come in," added the McLaren boss.

"In the unexpected and hopefully highly unlikely situation that they would leave, the sport needs to go on.

"I think Ferrari is a unique case because they are Ferrari, but we have lost BMW, we have lost Toyota, and we have lost Honda before. We've all seen manufacturers come and go in the sport and it has always survived.

"So we have got to write rules moving forward about what is best for the sport, not what is best for the manufacturers."

As difficult and sticky as the discussion are predicted to be, Brown believes Liberty needs to get Formula 1's affairs in order by the middle of the year.

"The FIA and Liberty need to move quickly so we can have as short a time of negotiations as possible because they will be turbulent," he said.

"The longer that goes on the more disruptive it becomes.

"And also, to be fully prepared for 2021, if new engine manufacturers and teams are going to come in we know it takes a couple of years, so time is ticking.

"I would like to see us landed on what 2021 looks like by the middle of this season. Anything longer than that starts to become technically challenging."

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