The day has come, the day Britain has been anticipating since the referendum on 23rd June 2016, in which 52% of the population voted to leave the European Union, otherwise known as Brexit. But what does this mean for Formula 1?
Formula 1's official headquarters are based in London, but more to the point, seven F1 teams are based in and around the UK: Williams, McLaren, Racing Point, Haas, Red Bull, Renault and Mercedes. But how will they be affected?
The main concern regarding Brexit is team personnel, Formula 1 is a team sport, clearly shown through Mercedes who employ over 1,800 team members in their UK based factories alone, most of whom are EU citizens. With Brexit nearing the finish line, fears rise as to whether passport restrictions will increase, and, whether the difficulty to obtain VISAs will too. All of which is a long winded process costing time and resources, McLaren's Chief Operations Officer, Johnathan Neale, stated this process is "not impossible but it is a pain."
The second concern is the logistical challenge, with Formula 1 being such a global sport ever expanding with a record 22 race calendar this season, Brexit could halt the fluidity of the sport. Teams and personnel travel the world along with shipping their entire livelihood to every racetrack, Brexit could impose implications with harsher border checks and increased tariffs. Which in turn increases the cost of making Formula 1 run efficiently by creating more paperwork and administration.
Formula 1 is a hugely competitive sport, everyone striving to be the best and to do this they can't focus on every single detail and component that makes up their cars, instead teams often outsource the production of certain elements. This outsourcing varies throughout several international companies and countries meaning a mishap at customs could be detrimental to a teams race weekend.
But is Brexit as bad as it's made out to be?
Although Formula 1's headquarters are based in London, the majority of their financial transactions are conducted in US Dollars which essentially insulates F1 from any fluctuating exchange rates.
Apart from this slight bonus, Brexit's aftermath is set to create implications to Formula 1's fluency. Even though the future is hard to predict, the expectation is that Brexit will be costly in both time and money for Formula 1 as a whole.
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