MAY 4, 2004

What was not said in Monaco

The big issue that was not addressed at the Monaco meeting is a financial settlement for Formula 1. This was the crux of the problem that led to the establishment of the now moribund GPWC organization which claimed that it would give the teams a better financial deal than that on offer from Ecclestone. Although there is much talk of Ecclestone offering more money, this is not believed to be any more than the $100m or so that he was offering as part of the Memorandum of Understanding in December. The teams still want more and given that Ecclestone and Allsport Management between them take around 70% of the money generated by the sport, there seems to be a fairly sound case for a change, given that in most sports the promoters take no more than 20%. Ecclestone argues that he created the business and that he should be entitled to enjoy the profits and there is a strong argument there too although the counter-argument which was championed by the GPWC is that Ecclestone has had enough money and should now reduce his demands.

This issue will need to be resolved before any agreement can be made with regard to the new rules coming in 2006 rather than in 2008.