Formula One’s tortured start to the season continued on Friday when a row over money flared up between the 10 teams and commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Formula One’s tortured start to the season continued on Friday when a row over money flared up between the 10 teams and commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) issued a statement to clarify reports of a stormy meeting with 78-year-old Ecclestone in London ahead of this weekend’s Australian season-opener. “The purpose of the meeting was to discuss payment of money owed by CVC (the effective owners of the commercial rights to Formula One) to the teams and relates to agreed sums owing from the 2006, 2007 and 2008,” it said.
Ecclestone disputed that. A statement posted on the official Formula One website (
www.formula1.com) by his Formula One Administration accused FOTA of making “inaccurate and misleading” comments. “Neither CVC nor FOA owes any amount to any team,” it said.
McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, Renault team boss Flavio Briatore and FOTA vice-chairman John Howett had met Ecclestone on March 18. Britain’s Times newspaper reported subsequently that Briatore and Dennis had threatened to organise a boycott of Sunday’s race unless Ecclestone paid up. Ecclestone in return reportedly threatened to cancel the charter plane taking the cars to Melbourne.
Martin Whitmarsh, who has taken over from Dennis as McLaren team principal, told Reuters that there had never been any question of his team boycotting the race. He added that while he had not been at the meeting, he believed Ecclestone’s version of events to have been “relatively theatrical”.
“There is a lot of tension in this climate about lots of teams being owed lots of money,” he said. “I think that is a business between the teams and Bernie that needs to be resolved urgently.” Howett sounded a conciliatory note, saying the teams would not be taking any dramatic action. I don’t think anybody wants to take any action that is excessively militant, but in the end we are performing I suppose and therefore we should be compensated for what we do,” he said.
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