Ecclestone confirms discussions with European Union on F1 structure
Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed holding "conversations" with the European Union with regard to Formula 1's governance and payment structure
In September last year Force India and Sauber lodged an official complaint with the EU's competitions commission, citing the division of revenues and drawing up of rules as "unfair and unlawful".
The two teams are drawing upon Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that prohibits anti-competitive agreements and the abuse of dominant market positions.
EU competitions commissioner Margrethe Vestager and her team are continuing to look into the claim, with a decision on whether there is a case to answer due soon.
"They're starting to get more and more interested in the anti-competitive way that we've got," said F1 commercial rights holder Ecclestone.
"Conversations have taken place and they will do what is the right thing to do."
F1's governance has come into the spotlight of late, notably following an open letter from the grand prix drivers in which they declared it to be "obsolete and ill structured".
That resulted in questions being asked of FIA president Jean Todt on his visit to Bahrain for last weekend's grand prix.
Todt made it clear he would gladly assume control "tomorrow" if he could, but is bound by the contracts in place with Ecclestone and the teams through to 2020.
Asked whether an EU investigation could result in such contracts coming to an end, Ecclestone replied: "Yeah, if the EU got really excited about it they could look at it and say, 'You've got to tear that up'."
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