F1 » F1 'debt' to scare teams back to table?

''Too mant smart ****s in the teams'' eh Bernie? More like people who can clearly see you trying to swindle them - If I had to deal with crooks like Bernie and Mosely, i''d have an entire legion of lawyers on the payroll.

F1 becomes a bigger joke by the day.

I second that Jack....

Jack, Yes, I agree. That's really hard to make sense of. Maybe some financial genius among us can translate it into English.

I'm no financial genius - a quick look at my last statement will confirm that. But as I understand it, CVC took out a mortgage to buy the commercial F1 rights (from Bernie himself, if I recall) that they are paying half as much back to the bank every year as they put into the prize fund. So the teams are annoyed, because their costs have gone up with regards to travel etc, Max is turning the screws in other areas of the sport such as engines (which aren't a key cost area in this respect) while CVC is busily forking over wedges it doesn't have becuase it bought something that was too expensive that it couldn't really afford from someone whp had it virtually given to them by the FIA.

Just re-read that, and it needs clarification. First off, that was my last *bank* statement I was referring to!

BE gets 100 year rights to F1 from Max for a song. Max gets 300m. Bernie flogs the rights to CVC, while still retaining all the appearance of being in charge. Bernie starts moving races to more Asian flyaways with lots of TV and no crowds. The teams pay more in air fares and trucking. Max says everything is too expensive, and tries to get everyone to use the same kit, starting with tyres, then moving to engines.

Then the teams find CVC is paying through the nose becuase it had to borrow massively to get F1 in the first place. They become annoyed. No-one is surprised.

Thanks Robsy, That makes more sense now. So the long and the short of it is, everyone gets screwed except Bernie and Max.

It is time for a break away controling body, instaeda of people who use the sport as a tax break. People who buy things on credit are now being caught out in the new economic crunch, and it will happen to the people who now run our sport. To buy it on credit and to dump another debt on it as well as the interest repayments is commom commercial practice, but that is why the world economy is in the state it is.

Time for a new start, let these people drown.

Agree Ray Watson. The debts of the commercial owners are theirs alone. It has nothing to do with the teams. Yes, let them drown. Who cares. The days of champagne on ice are over. Bring on the new breakaway series.

Why is this of any interest to us? So long as 20 or more hungry drivers in 20 or more sexy-looking decalled-up noisy cars line up ever sunday and entertain me I couldn't give a monkeys - and I DID understand the explanation of the financing! BE and MM will survive and prosper, and so will F1, however much we winge and moan. The rich will keep on skimming BECAUSE THATS WHAT MAKES THEM RICH, they are on a different level to us just as much as F1 drivers are so just let them get on with it.

this smells like the home mortgage crisis except it's with rich dogs money. So the next thing we'll hear is F1 is bankrupt and the entire season gets canned for a few years until the teams FINALLY breakaway and do it themselves. Capitalism eating it's own. So what else is new?