Carmakers to Get More Money from F1

Carmakers involved in Formula One have reached a deal with the owners of the showcase motor racing series under which they will get a bigger share of the sport's revenues, a German magazine reported.

Weekly Wirtschaftswoche said in an article released a day before its publication on Thursday that a deal would be signed before the end of this week.

The magazine said the carmakers, who had threatened to form a rival championship from 2008 unless their demands were met, had reached an agreement with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone at a meeting last week in Monte Carlo.

The deal, which was expected, would end the threat of a breakaway championship and would mean the 'Concorde Agreement', which covers the commercial side of the sport and expires at the end of 2007, is likely to be renewed.

The carmakers wanted a bigger share of the revenues from television rights and advertising and were asking to be associated more closely to strategic decisions affecting the sport.

Wirtschaftswoche quoted an unnamed spokesman for the carmakers as saying they had obtained everything they wanted.

Ecclestone, 73, has transformed Formula One into a sport that generates an estimated annual income of around $400 million from television rights and $200 million from other commercial sources.

The SLEC holding company that he founded, and which is now 75 percent owned by bankers JP Morgan, Lehmann brothers and Bayerische Landesbank, has a 100-year deal for the sport's commercial rights.

Carmakers Ford, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ferrari and Renault had set up a company, GPWC, to pave the way for a rival series should talks break down.