MARCH 5, 2002

Kirch admits that F1 will probably be sold

DIETER HAHN, the man who is looking after Formula 1 for the Kirch Group, says that he would like to find a way of keeping the investment but admitted that it might have to be sold to help Kirch through a liquidity crisis.

It is not going to bought by Rupert Murdoch. Over the weekend Peter Chernin, Murdoch's right hand man in News Corporation, said that the company was not interested in F1 and wanted money from Kirch.

Bernie Ecclestone is believed to have first option to buy back the team but there is no reason why he would want to given the current economic climate in the television rights industry and the resistance from the motor manufacturers to a new deal with SLEC, the F1 holding company.

The most likely outcome remains that a big German institution such as Deutsche Bank will get control of the F1 stake held by Kirch and will then negotiate a deal with the car manufacturers.