THERE is not much time for Bernie Ecclestone to rescue his empire from evaporating in the heat of animosity generated among men he helped to turn into household names.
Seven teams — including McLaren, Williams, Renault and BAR, who have sided with Europe’s rebel carmakers — believe that they will have tied up the details of a series to rival Ecclestone’s Formula One within a year. Circuit owners are lining up behind the rebels and sponsors have been assured that any new series will have the kudos and the big names to ward off any rearguard action by Ecclestone. Sauber joined up yesterday and Jordan and Red Bull are likely to follow.
Even as Formula One prepares for a new season, starting in Australia on March 6, the pace of change will quicken. Specialists from each team will meet this week to draw up rules and regulations for a new series, while legal papers are thought to be in process that will bring the GPWC, the rebel faction organised by Formula One’s car manufacturers, to an end to be replaced by a new alliance of the carmakers and teams that promises fair rule and equality for all, and not the rule by dictatorship that has gone on for almost three decades.
Ecclestone has long laughed off the idea of a breakaway from his motor-racing spectacle that draws tens of millions of viewers fortnightly, but McLaren’s declaration yesterday that they would rather walk away than continue in a sport that they believe is hopelessly unfair and biased towards Ferrari, is the most crushing blow yet.
McLaren have a long and glittering history in Formula One, producing some of the most charismatic champions, such as Ayrton Senna and James Hunt. But Ron Dennis, the team’s principal, cannot stomach any more of the internal wrangling that has made Formula One resemble the sporting branch of the Mafia.
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“If we can sustain the (McLaren) company’s economic profile, we will not participate in grand-prix racing unless there is a level playing field,” he said. “Maybe we would be in other types of motor racing in other parts of the world. It’s part of our heritage but we think that transparency is critical. We think that impartiality is critical.”
For once, Ecclestone’s often-used tactic of divide-and-rule has blown up in his face. He thought that persuading Ferrari to sign a five-year extension to the Concorde Agreement, the commercial contract that governs all of the teams, was a master-stroke. It was, in fact, the red rag to enrage the other nine teams.
Information passed to The Times suggests that not only were Ferrari given a £55 million sweetener to sign up, but they have been promised automatic annual payments worth almost £50 million, regardless of Formula One’s earnings and the performance of the other teams. But it was not just the issue of money that hardened the stance of the “Group of Nine”: they discovered that the Italians have also been promised the right of veto in key discussions over any future changes to the regulations.
That means that even if the nine agree, Ferrari alone could still overrule them. “Ferrari are a magnificent grand-prix team, steeped in tradition and they would most definitely be missed if they were not part of whatever the future holds for grand-prix racing,” Dennis said. “But they should not be put into a position which provides them with the ability to control change or receive disproportionate amounts of income.”
The memorandum of understanding between Ferrari and Ecclestone, ostensibly a commercial deal, was also signed by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, which caught all of the teams off guard. They believed that the FIA would have to remain independent of any commercial alliances and the FIA’s tough stance towards the teams has raised hackles. Although Dennis and other team principals will not be drawn, the “Group of Nine ” increasingly believe that the FIA is not governing Formula One by consensus.
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Whether the claims are right or wrong, the perception has been welded into place and Ferrari’s deal practically flung the nine teams into the arms of the GPWC, the breakaway organised by Europe’s leading carmakers in Formula One — Renault, BMW and Mercedes. It also propelled Honda and Toyota, usually keen not to get involved in politics, into the fold.