Bernie Ecclestone sure F1 Concorde Agreement now a formality

The Formula One Group and the FIA announced on Saturday that they had agreed the process by which the document that governs F1 will be implemented.

Although the statement was light on details of what actual parts of the agreement had been sorted, Ecclestone reckoned that the way was clear for matters to be finalised imminently.

"There have obviously been lots of things we've had to sort out," said Ecclestone. "It's a longer term thing, and this forms most of the Concorde Agreement for the teams as well, so we can get the whole lot put to bed now."

Although Ecclestone has had bilateral agreements in place with teams for some time, it has taken lengthy negotiations to move things forward with the FIA.

FIA AND ECCLESTONE NOW UNITED

However, with all the indications now pointing to their differences having been settled, Ecclestone welcomed the fact that he was now working on a common plan with the governing body.

"Yeah, it's good. We're with the FIA, and that's it," he explained. "It's for seven years, and what it does is give a little more input from the teams which we've been fighting for concerning regulations, so they can't complain."

When asked why it had taken so long to sort out matters with the FIA, Ecclestone said: "Honestly? Lawyers. But there have been no complaints from either side.

"When you write something and the other side reads it, they say 'well, maybe it would be better to word it like this'.

"Then you have problems between the French and English language. It's bad enough when it's in one language."