FIA, F1 teams strike right chord over Concorde deal

By the looks of it, Formula One teams seem to a have struck the right chord with the FIA over the Concorde Agreement as the current deal runs out by the end of this year.

A lot was said without anyone actually revealing the gist of the matter during the course of a press conference with six team principals, but from the little that could be deciphered, it was clear that they are hard at work to agree upon on a deal and it should be done in relatively short duration of time.

The Concorde Agreement is a document signed between the FIA, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) – involving twelve teams -- and the rights-holding company. In a nutshell, the agreement dictates which races are run and how television revenues and prize money is split between each party.

For the new contract, an array of deals are still need to be done, but the issue of the hike in entry fee – which, according to reports, is a significant sum -- seems to have been sorted out when rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone and the other two parties involved met in Paris on Monday.

“I think in the short term we’ve all got our own self-interests, but in the longer terms we’ve all the same interests and I think that’s the sport is successful, that it’s buoyant, it’s exciting and that it’s also viable,” said McLaren principal Martin Whitmarsh when asked if the agreement went accordance to their self interests.

“I think you’ve got to recognize that there’s a lot of challenge for quite a lot of teams and it’s important for all of us to reach for compromise, find a way forward that’s going to make sure that we can sustain all those teams. The good thing is this isn't the old era, which was I think very confrontational and probably good for the media but less good for the sport.

I think people here are recognising that now is not the time to have wars, now’s is the time to be constructive, where necessary compromise and find a way forward for the sport.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner seconded that opinion. “I think the guys have done a tremendous job of telling exactly what wasn’t discussed at the meeting, which is obviously confidential between the parties,” said Horner. “So, I’ll follow the line and say, yes, it was a very constructive meeting and we’re getting close to a conclusion but I think that’s really all there is to say at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Ecclestone said on Saturday that things are ‘moving along but honestly there is nothing much for us to talk about right away in that regard’.