Organisers of the rival racing series planned to take on F1 by 2008, the GPWC, have said they intend to offer teams a bigger share of the sport’s revenue, ahead of a meeting with team representatives.
Organisers of the rival racing series planned to take on F1 by 2008, the GPWC, have said they intend to offer teams a bigger share of the sport’s revenue, ahead of meeting with team representatives.
Representatives of the new series plan to meet with F1 heads before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March, and hope that the prospect of greater incomes will encourage deflection at the end of the Concorde Agreement.
With the current agreement, Bernie Eccelstone pays the teams just over 20 per cent of the total revenue generated by F1. GPWC is promising up to 80 per cent will be redistributed among the teams.
“We are not here to criticise Bernie Eccelstone because he has done an unbelievable job with Formula One, but it doesn’t work as well as it could or should,” said a GPWC spokesman. “There are a lot of things that are right, but there are increasingly a lot of things that are not right. We have to move quickly because, realistically, things need to be in place during 2005 if we are to be ready in time.”
“We are listening to what the teams, the fans and the broadcasters are telling us so that we can produce a series with a structure and a transparency that benefits all stakeholders and not just one. We need a more balanced economic model that benefits the teams more, the customers more and gives the advertisers a global platform.”
In response to arguments that the GPWC was organised to force Eccelstone to consider better terms once the Concorde Agreement expires in 2007, George Taylor, commercial head of the series said: “The GPWC racing series is not a dream, it is reality. It has already started.”
The GPWC recently said its negotiations with Eccelstone were over. A GPWC spokesman said: “Since it became clear we could not negotiate with Mr Ecclestone, we have been very busy putting things in place so that we will be in a position to run our own World Championship.”
Sponsors uncertain about the future of F1 have already started aligning themselves with the new organisation, with only some teams still needing to be convinced. And with several traditional circuits’ place on the F1 calendar being challenged while a host of new circuits are being introduced, many of these may make their facilities available to the GPWC instead.