The
FIA President has argued that insufficient funds are redistributed back into the sport that produces them in the first place. He has previously claimed that Ecclestone is making moves to try and wrestle power away from him and that it is in
F1's best interests for him to remain in his role [see separate story –
click here].
In an interview with
The Times, though, Ecclestone warned Mosley to keep his nose out of F1's commercial affairs, an area over which the FIA has no official jurisdiction.
“I'm sure if that happened, the European Commission would move in,” he underlined. “Under the agreement with the European Commission, the FIA are the regulators of the sport, like the police, and
Formula One Management are the commercial rights-holders.
“The money doesn't belong to Max; it doesn't belong to him to touch.”
The Independent further suggests that ‘a rise of this magnitude could have serious implications on CVC's ability to finance debt payments on the loan it took out from RBS and Lehman Brothers, which was secured on the future profits of
Formula 1'. There is, however, a precedent in that back in 1997 Ecclestone and CVC agreed to Ron Dennis and Frank
Williams' demands for a greater share of the sport's profits.
Playing against Mosley in the meeting, conversely, is the fact that the FIA is simultaneously asking that the teams pay higher championship entry fees in addition to various ‘services and equipment at every F1 race', according to
grandprix.com.
These extra costs will cover the marshalling and positioning System (F1MS), which provides race control with accurate real time information about each car's position on the circuit and enables light signals to be sent to the cars from race control, at an annual cost of $160,000 USD per team.
