Team bosses think negotiations over the next commercial contracts in formula one will begin shortly.
With a European Commission investigation already underway, the issue of the inequitable distribution of income up and down pitlane is highly contentious.
The teams’ individual contracts with the Bernie Ecclestone-led commercial rights holder expire at the end of 2020, and so with a billion dollars a year in the offing, a lot is literally at stake.
"It’s still some way away," Red Bull’s Christian Horner said in Montreal. "We’re talking about 2020, but I would envisage that talks would start over the next 12 months or so, or 24 months, but impossible really to predict."
The new American team Haas, meanwhile, is totally unique in F1 because Ecclestone has so far declined to offer an individual financial agreement to the outfit.
"Let’s see what the next 12-24 months brings when negotiations start," team boss Gunther Steiner said in Canada.
"I think they should start pretty soon so that we are not getting to a point where people are forced into taking a decision to take what is there (offered) or leave.
"Next time we will play a part in it and voice our opinion," he added.