The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) is demanding a greater share of the revenue that Formula One generates as the need to slash running costs becomes increasingly urgent in the wake of Honda’s shock exit from the sport.
According to autosport.com FOTA will meet FIA President Max Mosley next week to discuss the outcomes of their meeting in Geneva, specifically the need for a greater proportion of Formula One’s profits to go directly to the teams.
The teams then hope to lobby Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone directly.
“In the short run we’ll organise a meeting with Max Mosley to present him the details of our proposals and to discuss with him how to improve the show our sport offers,” said FOTA chairman and Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo in the wake of Honda’s exit.
“Furthermore we also agreed that it’s necessary to meet with Bernie Ecclestone to talk about the distribution as far as the earnings are concerned.”
The teams already have the support of Max Mosley who has put forward recommendations that the prize money should be divided up so that each team is guaranteed at least $50m each.
“This would ensure a full grid with a strong possibility that new teams will enter the championship, filling the two vacant slots as well as any additional vacancies,” Mosley said in a letter to the teams.
Di Montezemolo is adamant that a shake-up of the current revenue sharing arrangements must underpin any future cost-cutting proposals.
Speaking of FOTA’s meeting in Geneva last week he said: “First of all I want to say that I was very satisfied with the meeting’s extremely cooperative climate.”
“We unanimously took some very important decisions with short-term and mid-term impact, for the years 2009 and 2010, while we also set out a proposal for a new engine starting in 2011.
“We gave a further input as far as cost reduction is concerned to help especially the smaller teams over the upcoming season. It’s a huge effort from all of us, which is important for two reasons: firstly because it wasn’t planned, considering what has been planned a few weeks ago, and secondly, because it happens in a very delicate overall economical situation.”
“I think that we’ve given an unanimous reply to the requests FIA has made several times; therefore we’ve shown that we have a great capacity to react and to suggest solutions, backed by all of us protagonists in Formula One, from the big car manufacturers to the independent teams.
“The aim is to reach unanimous decisions, which satisfy all our requests, while we don’t touch Formula One as a sporty and technological competition amongst teams.”
