Sports / Motor Racing |
FIA and car manufacturers agree F1 deal(Reuters)Updated: 2006-11-16 10:32
Formula One's governing body and leading car manufacturers, who at one time threatened a breakaway series, have struck a deal to end a long battle over how the billion-dollar sport should be run. International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley and BMW's Burkhard Goeschel said agreement had been reached on all outstanding issues. They told correspondents from four major European daily newspapers from Germany, Britain, France and Italy at a lunch in Munich on Tuesday that a new document would be drawn up and signed in the near future to govern the sport for at least the next five years. Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone signed an agreement with the five-strong GPMA group -- Renault, DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Honda and Toyota -- last May. That deal, concerning the financial side of the sport, effectively killed off any lingering threat of a so-called 'rival series' that had been mooted as manufacturers pressed for a far greater share of the revenues. However, technical details and issues of governance, control of the regulatory process, had still to be agreed with the FIA although the ruling body announced in August that they and the GPMA were in "full agreement' about the future of the championship. The existing 'Concorde Agreement' that governs the sport expires at the end of 2007 but all teams have committed for a further five years. NEW HARMONY The Munich announcement emphasised the new-found harmony between both sides. The Financial Times said both Mosley and Goeschel described the deal as "a major breakthrough, unquestionably a fundamental change in the way we go about managing the rules. "We defined the objectives of road relevance, lower costs and social relevance and then we defined the rules," they added. The paper said that individual team management, people such as McLaren boss Ron Dennis, would be bypassed in future and discussions about the rules would take place with the manufacturers at main board level. All of the 11 current teams, due to expand to 12 in 2008, are currently either owned by a manufacturer or linked to one through an engine supply contract. An FIA spokesman said the independent teams, such as Williams, would not lose out in the decision-making process, however. "The FIA's role has always been to protect the independent teams and we will continue to do that," he said. Mosley is keen to push Formula One towards a greener future, with the FIA mapping out an energy-saving revolution for the next five years. The governing body has already announced a freeze on engine development from 2007 with the focus now on "modern and relevant technologies" to save energy and benefit the ordinary road user. "We will make research work in F1 more road relevant," Mosley said on Tuesday. "We will move F1 from the technology of the 20th century to that of the 21st century, to move away from F1 being labelled as a dinosaur. "The tide of world opinion has just turned regarding global warming. With the changes we have made, we have caught the tide. If we had missed it, F1 could have become irrelevant." |
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