GPWC: Rival Series Not Dead Yet

Carmakers planning a rival series to Formula One say the project remains alive despite Ferrari's decision to break ranks and stay in the existing Championship until at least 2012.

A spokesman for the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC) said chairman Juergen Hubbert had written to the champions' nine rivals on Friday urging them to keep an open mind and not act hastily.

Hubbert, former head of DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes car group, told them the GPWC knew nothing about Ferrari's decision before the surprise announcement on Wednesday that they had signed an extension to the 'Concorde Agreement'.

"The GPWC continues to fight for their four objectives," the spokesman said after widespread media comments that the GPWC was now mortally wounded. "So far we cannot say whether this agreement brings us closer to these objectives.

"Until we know for a fact that this has been achieved, nothing changes to the GPWC strategy."

The GPWC's four aims are to secure more money for the teams, create a more transparent environment, ensure long-term stability for the sport and bring it to the widest possible audience.

Ferrari, World Champions for the past six years, are the only team to have competed in Formula One since the first Championship in 1950.

By far the most successful and recognised team, their decision to stay with the existing setup was a coup for Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) governing body.

Founder Members

The Italian team had been founder members of the GPWC, which is now reduced to just Mercedes, BMW and Renault following the departure of Ford last year. Of the three, only Renault own their team. Mercedes part-own McLaren while BMW power Williams.

Hubbert said in his letter that Ferrari's decision to renew the 'Concorde Agreement' had no impact on the existing agreement which does not run out until 2008. He therefore urged teams not to be pressured by Ecclestone and to wait to see the GPWC's own blueprint for the future at a meeting next month.

"I'm confident that the presentation will clearly demonstrate that together we can create an environment of fairness for our sport different to that which appears to result from Ferrari's unilateral decision to enter to a private agreement with the commercial rights holder and FIA," wrote Hubbert in his letter.

According to a report in The Times newspaper on Friday, Ecclestone is demanding that the other teams extend the agreement by the end of February or forfeit their share of a $500 million sweetener.

Team bosses and Ecclestone, whose Formula One companies are embroiled in legal action with shareholder banks, are due to meet in London next Tuesday before more talks with FIA president Max Mosley on Friday.

In a separate development, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart met Mosley in London on Friday to discuss the situation.

"So much has changed this week," Stoddart told Reuters. "My purpose is to try to find a harmonious way forward...holding out an olive branch. We want to do our talking on the track and not have another year of politics.

"What came out loud and clear today was 'wait until Friday'. All will come clear then."