JULY 18, 2001

The role of the FIA in the Concorde Agreement

THERE is a great deal of talk at the moment about the negotiating of a new Concorde Agreement between the car manufacturers, the Formula 1 teams, Bernie Ecclestone and Leo Kirch.

THERE is a great deal of talk at the moment about the negotiating of a new Concorde Agreement between the car manufacturers, the Formula 1 teams, Bernie Ecclestone and Leo Kirch. But there is a problem. The teams and Ecclestone's company are not the only signatories to the existing contract - that runs until the end of 2007. In other words, if the current Concorde Agreement is going to be scrapped, the FIA will have to be part of the deal.

And that may cause problems because some of the F1 teams have not been altogether helpful with the FIA in recent months, particularly in relationship to the FIA's desire to solve its problems with the European Union.

Although the FIA has leased the commercial rights to Formula 1 until the year 2107, the governing body is still due money until then. The other signatories could offer to pay the money outstanding (presumably with interest) but the FIA is not bound to accept such an offer and might insist on an even larger payment to agree to cancelling the existing deal.

Much, therefore, depends of the attitude of FIA President Max Mosley.