• 2013 Concorde Agreement

Concorde negotiations will be a 'bunfight' - Fry

Bernie Ecclestone will be at the very centre of the Concorde Agreement negotiations © Sutton Images

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Mercedes CEO Nick Fry is expecting a "real bunfight" as the Formula One teams prepare to enter negotiations with Formula One Management (FOM) and FIA over the next Concorde Agreement.

Up for renewal in 2013, the Concorde Agreement binds Formula One's stakeholders together while dividing the sport's revenues between them. Under the current contract the teams receive 50% of F1's income in prize money (worth $658 million last year), with the remainder going to commercial rights holders CVC Capital Partners.

The teams, allied under the Formula One Teams' Association, are believed to be angling for 70-75% of revenues, although FOM CEO Bernie Ecclestone said earlier this year that "there is no chance they're getting 70% - they should be happy with what they've got."

In a video interview with the Financial Times, Fry said the teams are currently preparing for some tough negotiations in the year ahead.

"At the moment we are not saying anything to CVC or Bernie," he said. "I think the teams' association is working very hard behind the scenes to establish our position.

"This is going to be a real bunfight. You're dealing with a large number of intensely competitive people, who, at the end of the day, want to do the best for their teams. But I think the thing that is overriding is that we've got to do the best for Formula One. We will find a solution, I'm sure."

However, the teams are not the only ones looking to increase their share, as the FIA and its president Jean Todt is looking to cover its F1-related costs with money from the sport's revenues.

"I think there are going to be lots of bumps in the road and lots of posturing," Fry added. "I'm sure that the FIA want a bigger share of the action, as the teams do, and I think Bernie will try to recover some of what he's lost over the last couple of years. I think it's going to be very challenging but we'll find a solution."

Under Max Mosley's leadership in 2001, the FIA signed away F1's commercial rights for 100 years to FOM for a reported $360m. Todt has been keen to distance himself from his predecessor since becoming president in 2009, and FIA spokesman Norman Howell told the Financial Times that the governing body is now hoping to regain some of its control over F1's commercial rights.

"If you look at all the other major federations in sport, they have a substantial interest in the rights of their sport. We don't," he said. "We do not want to grab the rights back. But we definitely want an input in these rights in some sort of capacity."

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