OCTOBER 27, 1997

The Concorde Agreement creeps towards a settlement

THERE was a meeting in London on the Friday before the Grand Prix of Europe and another on the Thursday at the event to try to sort out the problems between the teams and the FIA about a new Concorde Agreement for 1998-2008. All parties concerned reported that progress is being made and everyone is hoping to have a deal by the time entries for the 1998 World Championship close on November 15.

In an effort to get the process finished FIA President Max Mosley hinted that if there were problems in the negotiations there was no reason why the FIA should have such an agreement.

"There are more disadvantages for us than there are advantages," Mosley said. "If teams do not want to enter Formula 1 they do not have to but it would be logical to have a position where teams which want to make a commitment should be rewarded for it."

It is worth noting that on Saturday night at Jerez, Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone dined with Jurgen Schrempp, the chairman of Daimler-Benz, who is the major backer of the McLaren F1 team - one of the rebels in the Concorde Agreement dispute....