Ecclestone Hopes for New Concorde Agreement

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has revealed he wants to renegotiate the Concorde Agreement, the secret document which governs the sport.

Ecclestone, who owns the commercial rights to Formula One, wants to create peace and harmony between the teams and the sport's ruling body, the FIA, and claims a new Concorde Agreement is crucial to that. He is confident a new deal can be put together in the next month, allowing teams access to increased funding from the commercial side of Formula One.

"We are bogged down with history and folklore," Ecclestone told The Times newspaper. "We are racing with decisions that have nothing to do with our current circumstances. The regulations do not reflect today's values and what we need to be doing now.

"If everybody sits around a table, we could start work on it now, but I need the teams and the rest to say they want change."

Ecclestone was also critical of the five manufacturers - Ferrari, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, BMW and Renault - over their proposal to set up the rival Grand Prix World Championship when the Concorde Agreement expires at the end of 2007.

"They [the manufacturers] wanted to come in because Formula One was a big car showroom for them and we are just helping them to sell cars," Ecclestone added. "They are just holding out to take control of F1 without paying any money for it. The whole thing has become a nightmare.

"Formula One doesn't need this sort of trouble and we need to find a way to negotiate a new Concorde Agreement so teams can be looked after and we can see the future clearly."