Formula 1 teams have turned down Liberty Media’s offer to become shareholders of the sport, at least for now.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the FIA gave its final blessing to the American company’s takeover of Formula 1, with the deal expected to close by the end of this month.<\/p>\n
In a bid to give the leading actors of the sport an interest in its future, Liberty is offering up to 20 percent of Formula 1’s commercial rights to the teams on favourable terms, although the stake would not include voting rights.<\/p>\n
Given the team’s current refusal or hesitancy to invest, perhaps the terms aren’t as favourable as Liberty claims.<\/p>\n
“I honestly don’t know if I should buy shares,” Red Bull and Toro Rosso team owner Dietrich Mateschitz told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper this week.<\/p>\n
Michael Schmidt, the respected correspondent for Auto Motor und Sport, also revealed \u00a0that F1 teams expressed “little interest” in buying shares when the Strategy Group and F1 Commission met in Geneva on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A source at one top team said: “Without influence on the future direction and marketing of Formula One, purchasing shares is not very attractive for us.”<\/p>\n
GALLERY: F1 drivers’ wives and girlfriends<\/p>\n