All 10 Formula One teams on Thursday signed up to work together towards the Grand Prix World Championship, making the threat of a breakaway series a real possibility.
All 10 Formula One teams on Thursday signed up to work together towards the Grand Prix World Championship, making the threat of a breakaway series a real possibility.
According to , the teams met the organisers of the breakaway series in Munich. An Operational Agreement, similar to F1’s Concorde Agreement, was presented and all the teams signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The teams want a bigger share of the sport’s revenue from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, which the breakaway series gives them. It is believed Ecclestone previously tried to negotiate with the teams to commit to F1, but has not been able to do so yet.
McLaren chief Ron Dennis said at the weekend the teams wanted a more fair situation. “The documentation that will be presented to the teams is a complete and comprehensive proposal. It has had significant input from all the teams and significant legal representation. There is no desire for any of the teams to go in a different direction but there is a definite desire to have a more equitable situation in F1 for everyone,” he said before the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Organisers of the breakaway series said they would be meeting FIA president Max Mosley and Ecclestone soon to update them on the details of the meeting.
Renault vice-president Patrick Faure said the Grand Prix World Championship was about getting a better deal for the manufacturers. “There has been the first era of Formula One, now there will be another,” Faure told the newspaper. “We are happy to keep Bernie as CEO, but most of the money generated by Formula One has to go to the teams. Everything else is negotiable. But on this we will not compromise. We need this sport to be paid for by the revenues it generates.”
The teams share 47 per cent of the revenue generated by the sale of commercial rights to F1 and the rest goes to Ecclestone’s holdings company SLEC and investment banks.
The Grand Prix World Championship is scheduled to start in 2008 when the Concorde Agreement expires.