AUGUST 10, 1998

Concorde agreement? Well, not quite...

ALTHOUGH all the Formula 1 teams have now finally signed the 1998 Concorde Agreement we understand that contrary to earlier reports the final draft of the document has NOT yet been signed by Max Mosley, President of the FIA. The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the teams, Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings and the FIA.

Mosley did sign a version of the deal in Monaco back in May but we understand that other changes were made to the contract after the highly-publicized Monaco signing ceremony and Mosley has still to sign the revised document. Why he has not yet signed is unclear after many months of negotiation, but we suspect it is related to the ongoing legal action between the FIA and the European Commission, which claims that the FIA is abusing a dominant position.

Talks between the EU and the FIA are going on quietly with the occasional outburst of sabre-rattling when one party or the other is not getting what it wants but we would expect that a deal of some sort will eventually be struck which will keep everyone happy and out of the courts.

It appears that Sauber's nonsensical decision not to sign the new deal was actually done in agreement with F1 boss BernieÊEcclestone - to delay matters - and Mosley's refusal to sign suggests a continuation of that policy.