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Toto Wolff has issued a strong warning of the dangers facing Formula One and the sport’s place in the UK because of Brexit, describing it as the “mother of all messes”. The Mercedes team principal was speaking as teams gave their cars their full track debut at the first test here. Ferrari were quickest but Williams suffered a severe blow, admitting they were not ready to run for the opening two days of testing.

Seven of the 10 F1 teams are based in Britain and there are nine European races this season. They employ a large number of people with a wide range of nationalities and are reliant on parts, equipment and materials coming in and out of the EU. Wolff warned Brexit would have a major impact.

“Any major disruption with borders or taxes would damage the F1 industry in the UK,” he said. “Our team is an international team, including many EU citizens, and there is uncertainty at whether the industry will be impacted by a no-deal Brexit or a Brexit. That is damaging to what is to me one of the outstanding industries in the UK. It is the mother of all messes.”

He was also concerned about the ability of F1 teams to attend races and perform at the highest level, reflecting a similar view to those the McLaren chief executive, Jonathan Neale,
expressed in November.

“If a no-deal Brexit happens like it is being discussed, it would have a major impact in terms of our operation going to the races and getting our car developed and ready,” said Wolff. “That is a nightmare scenario that I don’t want to envisage.”

Wolff also warned the potential upheaval caused by Brexit could affect Mercedes’ ability to compete. “Everybody at Ferrari, Toro Rosso [both based in Italy] and also Alfa Romeo in Switzerland will have a massive advantage over every UK-based team,” he said.

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Jonathan Neale, the chief operating officer at McLaren, has warned the result of a no-deal Brexit may put the ability of teams to stage Formula Onemeetings at risk. Seven of the 10 teams are based in the UK and there will be nine races in Europe next year. According to Neale, McLaren are already working with partners within the sport in an attempt to ensure they are ready to deal with potential difficulties.

“The key issues will be border efficiency for both parts and people and administrative costs,” said Neale. “McLaren F1 takes 40 tons and 100 people and we pop up at an event every two weeks around the globe in 20 countries and five continents, through a variety of customs borders, to put the show on the road. Currently there are well-trodden paths in how we manage customs and borders in order to move seamlessly.

“One of the things we are doing is working with F1, HMRC and our logistic providers like FedEx and DHL and try to anticipate [and] lobby, to make sure that we continue to work efficiently … that the administrative cost and the burden don’t make that a cumbersome process which would put risk into the ability to deliver the show.”

Neale said McLaren have identified the key areas they believed may be issues in light of a no-deal Brexit. “The friction points are talent; supply chain and export of our product; administrative costs in coping with inefficiencies in borders and delays,” he said. “We will wait and see. We are not running around being over-dramatic but we are absolutely addressing it.”

Talent will be of particular concern to all teams given the international nature of F1. McLaren’s F1 team employs 800 people. Neale revealed in the engineering group alone there were 23 nationalities. Ensuring this diversity was paramount. He said: “What we would like to avoid is getting into crazy, administratively costly and time-consuming visa requirements either for retention or for future recruitment. We want to be able to hire talent on the basis of right person for the job.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ team principal, recently said he had concerns too for the 1,800 people employed across Mercedes motorsport in the UK, many of whom are EU citizens. Renault also face potential difficulties. They are based in Oxfordshire but their engines are manufactured in France.

“We are 10 weeks from starting our car build for 2019,” Neale said. “An F1 car has about 14,000 parts and the carry-over between the last race of this year and the first of next year will be less than 10%. Many of those materials are sourced from a number of small-to-medium enterprises in the UK and across Europe. Some complex sub-assemblies will cross many borders before they arrive here.

“If every time a border is crossed there is a transaction, it introduces a huge amount of inertia and inefficiency to our supply chain. It will be the same for everybody but as a business it is something we would be keen to avoid.”

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