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[racechick]

An article in todays Sunday Times by Ed Gorman reports on Ecclestone's response to Montezemolo when he requested greater transparency about F1 income and a greater share of that income for the teams. Here are some quotes of Ecclestone's responses:-

"the only thing he has not mentioned is the extra money ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things ferrari have had for years-the 'general help' they are considered to have had in Formula One"

"Ferrari get so much more money than everyone else. They know exactly what they get, they are not that stupid,although they are not that bright either. They get about $80 million more. when they win the constructors' championship, which they did this year, they got $80million more than if McLaren had won it."

The deal goes back to 2003 when there was an attempted breakaway and Ecclestone goes on to say this....

"They were the only team that broke ranks with the other manufacturers - - why did they break ranks? Thats where the $80 comes in. We 'bought ' Ferrari. We 'bought' Ferrari's loyalty. Our deal was that we 'bought' them so they would not go to the others.

Finally-

" What he should do rather than asking for money, with all the extra money ferrari get, he should share all that amongst the teams."

So there we have it!!

[Gert]

Thus, as I suspected, Luca only wants Bernie to go 'cos Bernie isn't offering anymore special deals.

F1 sucks doesn't it?

[bud]

F1 does suck when you have w**kers like Luca and Bernie about

[Gaz]

thats f***ing disgracefull

[al4x]

i cant take much more of this, as time goes on i am more and more sure this will be the last year i watch f1

[hamilton08]

especially now that honda have dropped out as well.
and i hate the fact that he also wants to do medals instead of points

what made me laugh even more was Mclaren still beat Ferrari

[7UpJordan]

Well that is a big shock, whilst at the same time not being really surprising.

[Haze]

It's really, really fascinating watching an entire sport implode. Next chapter please!

[7UpJordan]

It's really, really fascinating watching an entire sport implode. Next chapter please!

And there will be a lot more to come out when Barrichello writes his book... a lot, lot more.

[racechick]

I just edited my original post. I missed out the word million. It was $80 million more that Ferrari got....but I guess you realised that.

[liquidmetal]

tsk tsk .... in his old age bernie has lost his senility ..... really shows his lack of clarity and vision, and proves his greed; he just wants to earn money even if F1 goes bust in the next few yrs ....

[AndyLock]

From ITV F1...


"Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has launched a withering attack on Ferrari president and Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) chairman Luca di Montezemolo after the Italian criticised the way Ecclestone runs the sport.

Earlier this week di Montezemolo said FOTA wants to know more about the distribution of F1's revenues, in order to review the current 50-50 split between the teams and the sport's main shareholders CVC Capital Partners.

He also claimed F1 was not run in a "normal" manner and said the powers-that-be could no longer rule the sport by "divide and conquer" tactics.

The spat comes in the wake of cost-cutting agreements between FOTA and the FIA and foreshadows FOTA’s attempts to step up pressure on Ecclestone to give the teams a greater share of the sport’s income.

But in a scathing reply to di Montezemolo, Ecclestone signalled that he is unwilling to give ground – and suggested Ferrari, in particular, has no grounds for complaint about the money it receives.

He confirmed the open secret that the Maranello squad was given preferential financial arrangements as an inducement to split from the alliance of manufacturer teams that was threatening to break away from F1 several years ago – baldly stating that he "bought off" Ferrari in order to kill off the threat of a rival championship.

And in an apparent attempt to drive a wedge between the newly united teams, Ecclestone spelt out how much extra money Ferrari receives.

“The only thing [di Montezemolo] has not mentioned is the extra money Ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things Ferrari have had for years – the ‘general help’ they are considered to have had in Formula 1,” Ecclestone told The Times newspaper.



“They know exactly what they get, they are not that stupid, although they are not that bright, either.

“They get about $80 million [£54 million] more.

“When they win the constructors’ championship, which they did this year, they got $80 million more than if McLaren had won it.

“They were the only team that broke ranks with the other manufacturers. Why did they break ranks? That’s where the $80 million comes in.

“We ‘bought’ Ferrari. We ‘bought’ Ferrari’s loyalty.

“Our deal with Ferrari was that we ‘bought’ them so they would not go to the others.”

Ecclestone added that if the teams want to boost their income, they should look to Ferrari to distribute its extra $80 million rather than setting their sights on CVC’s cut.

“What he should do, rather than asking for money, with all the extra money Ferrari gets, he should share all that amongst the teams,” he said.

Ecclestone also rejected di Montezemolo's suggestion that the distribution of F1's revenues needs to be more transparent – pointing out that, under the terms of the Concorde Agreement, teams already have the right to examine the finances of the business.

“They have the right to send people into the company and search for everything,” Ecclestone said.

“Ferrari in particular, more than anybody, from day one, have had the right and they’ve never done it.

“We have bankers here and we’ve got CVC checking every single solitary thing.

“So anybody that starts saying that we’ve done anything wrong, I’ll sue the a*** off them.”

By way of a parting shot, Ecclestone suggested that di Montezemolo has less knowledge of what Ferrari is doing than his employees.

“It’s a shame he’s not in touch with people that seem to run the company as opposed to what he does – work as a press officer,” he said."


So, who's surprised at this corrupt sport? Not Me.

[AKR]

thats f***ing disgracefull

Yeah it is bad isn't it? However personally I couldn't really careless. Nothing I can do about it anyways. That is life I guess.

[AKR]

especially now that honda have dropped out as well.
and i hate the fact that he also wants to do medals instead of points

what made me laugh even more was Mclaren still beat Ferrari

Ferrari actually bet McLaren as Ferrari won the constructors championship.

[hamilton08]

especially now that honda have dropped out as well.
and i hate the fact that he also wants to do medals instead of points

what made me laugh even more was Mclaren still beat Ferrari

Ferrari actually bet McLaren as Ferrari won the constructors championship.

I ment lewis hamilton winning the world drivers championship.