• Concorde Agreement

Ecclestone fights back after Concorde threats

ESPNF1 Staff
May 25, 2011 « Truck fire damages Monaco track | »
Bernie Ecclestone hard at work at the Spanish Grand Prix © Sutton Images
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If teams do not sign a new Concorde Agreement, they could be charged exorbitant entry fees by Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's chief executive has warned.

Teams reportedly want their share of the F1 revenue pie to increase to 70% after the current commercial contract expires next year, with Ferrari warning that a breakaway series is possible if its demands are not met.

"I don't even care if we don't have a Concorde Agreement," Ecclestone told the Daily Express. "What we might do is run the championship and ask the teams for money to enter."

F1 teams already pay entry fees to the governing FIA, but Ecclestone argues that it is logical they should also pay fees to the owner of the commercial rights. "If I want to enter a horse in the Derby, I pay a whacking great entry fee," he said, and he went on to hint that teams who sign up now for 2013 and beyond will not have to pay the new fee.

"If you are late with an entry in the Derby," said Ecclestone, continuing the horse-racing analogy, "you have to pay a chunk of money to enter the horse. If teams don't want an agreement, we will put more money in our bank."

Ecclestone's comments come in the aftermath of a meeting between the big four teams - Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull - in Stuttgart where it is believed the subject of how to handle negotiations with him was on the agenda.

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