F1: Ferrari Puts Support Behind New Concorde Agreement

By James Neilson – Inside Track



F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and Ferrari has agreed in principal to an extension of the Concorde Agreement, the document that governs the running of Formula 1, through the 2012 season.



The support of Ferrari is seen as a breakthrough for Ecclestone who has had to fight the threat of a breakaway, manufacturers-led, series opposed to F1 for quite some time.



The Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC) was set up by manufacturers, including Ferrari’s parent company Fiat, competing in F1 and has threatened to break away from the series if Ecclestone doesn’t share more of the revenue with the competing manufacturers and teams.



Losing Ferrari, a mainstay of F1 since the series inaugural season in 1950, would have been a huge blow for Ecclestone as the health of F1 is often linked to the presence, and tremendous worldwide popularity, of the Ferrari brand.



“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Formula One’s commercial rights holder and the oldest team in the championship,” FIA President Max Mosley said in a press release from the FIA. “The agreement is significant because it will ensure the development of the FIA’s most important championship.”



In response to criticism he hoards more than his fair share of F1’s revenue Ecclestone has offered the constructor’s an extra $500 million in shared revenue over the remaining three years of the current Concorde Agreement.



“The parts of the Concorde Agreement they were concerned with will be dealt with and they are going to get more money,” Ecclestone said in an interview with the BBC.



The current agreement is set to expire in 2007 and, if a new agreement is to be reached, there has to be unanimous approval among the teams.



Now that Ferrari have signed on, Ecclestone is said to be in talks with the remaining teams in the hopes that Ferrari’s support will woo them into signing on through 2012 as well.