Dennis: Money Key in New F1 Deal
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has warned that agreement over a rules package for Formula One post-2008 may not be enough to guarantee plans for a breakaway series are called off
With the teams and manufacturers preparing the breakaway due to meet at Hockenheim this weekend to finalise their rules package before presenting them to the FIA, Dennis claims that there is still major progress to be made in finalising a commercial package.
Although there is understood to be a great deal of similarity between the rules that the manufacturers are suggesting and the proposals put forward by the FIA, sources have claimed that there is a great deal of unhappiness about the amount of money being taken out of the sport by F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
"Everybody has a common objective, which is to have a better Formula One," said Dennis at the German Grand Prix.
"I think that probably the most contentious issue that will emerge will be the economics of Formula One versus the regulatory or sporting aspects, and when you see everything that is currently in the system from whatever source there is a remarkable level of commonality.
"That remains to be discussed and those subjects that we need to come to a common opinion on are probably less than 25 percent of the whole, as it were."
Despite the concerns about the commercial aspects of the sport, however, Dennis remains optimistic that a solution will eventually be found that prevents the breakaway from needing to take place.
"I am optimistic that we will come to a position where all the stakeholders are looking forward to embracing a 2008 season that will be, to the best of our ability, better than those seasons that we have had or those seasons that remain under the current agreement," he added.
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