The current Concorde Agreement, between FOTA and FIA that defines only a 50% of F1's profits to the teams in prize money, will expire at the end of 2012 and although the establishment of an agreement during 2009 F1 season between FOTA and FIA that resulted to the resignation of Max Mosley by the FIA leadership and the acceptance of new racing rules by the teams. Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo insisted that a breakdown series is still possible if a new Concorde Agreement won't be reach while McLaren chairman Ron Dennis seems to had accused Bernie Ecclestone of stealing Formula One's commercial rights from the teams according to the new Ecclestone biography Bernie by Susan Watkins in a combined FOTA attack to F1 supremo.In fact, Ferrari president Luca di Monetezemolo, implied that several options are available to the teams if they were not offered a greater share of the sport's earnings under the next Concorde Agreement. Montezemolo said Ferrari did not want to be "locked in a Formula One prison" and that one theoretical option was for the teams to run the sport themselves.
However, in a longer transcript of the lunch interview on Autosport.com, Montezemolo made clear that Ecclestone would be at the centre of any future direction the sport takes. Instead his grievances appear to be with CVC Capital Partners, which owns the sport and reaps close to 50% of its profit each year.
When contacted for a response by Reuters, Ecclestone made clear that he did not take the threat of a breakaway series - which has existed since the early 1980s when Ecclestone himself was angling for a bigger cut of the revenues on behalf of F1 teams - seriously.
"It's what he [Montezemolo] says every time he goes to Monza every year: 'We need more money'. It's all nonsense. They're not going to break away. They've tried it all before. Luca's a lovely guy but he likes to say these things and then he forgets what he is saying."
Still, Dennis is quoted as saying, referring to the transfer of the sport's lucrative commercial rights from the team-led Formula One Constructors' Association to Ecclestone's company in the 90s.
"Bernie effectively stole F1 from us. He used this commercial benefit to persuade the teams to accept a contract that eliminated them from the passing of rights as had previously existed."
McLaren - as well as Williams - contested the transaction, claiming that some of the profits of the rights' subsequent sale belonged to them. The British teams also sued the law firms that represented them for giving bad advice, but Ecclestone insists they simply regretted not making a wiser decision.
But again Ecclestone had another good argument.
"It's only when things started to look good and I invested the money and it started to work that they thought maybe they should have done it."
