Ferrari chiefs have denied reports the famous Italian team has already inked a new Concorde Agreement with Bernie Ecclestone.
In the wake of Ferrari and also Red Bull’s departure from the FOTA alliance, it was rumoured the top teams must have secretly agreed lucrative new deals with the F1 chief executive. But at the same time it is also understood that the existing Concorde, which will run until the end of this year, prohibits teams from breaking ranks unless the same offer is made throughout the paddock.
Asked in the Italian Dolomites about rumours of Ferrari’s 2013 Concorde, team boss Stefano Domenicali insisted: “It’s not true.”
He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “It is true that Ferrari and Ecclestone have been speaking to one another. They always do because they are both … they have always both been in F1.”
At the same time, president Luca di Montezemolo defended Ferrari’s decision to leave FOTA by insisting the fabled marque “has the right to have its say in an autonomous fashion”.
“Clearly this is a very important year and we are all aware of that,” agreed Domenicali.
He is referring also to the teams’ voluntary resource restriction agreement (RRA), which earlier this year Red Bull was accused of flouting.
Domenicali thinks the penalties for cheating are not severe enough.
“Today, only a financial type of penalty is planned, but we need to decide if it would not be better to think also of something on the sporting front and, in that case, who should decide the outcome,” he said.
Ferrari said the team regards a cost-limiting agreement as important, but insisted that – amid the European economic crisis – Ferrari remains strong.
“In 2011 we beat the record in our history for cars sold, so our financial position is very solid,” he is quoted by Spain’s El Periodico.
Source:GMM
