Ecclestone Responds to di Montezemolo Criticism

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has responded to comments from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo after the Italian criticised the sport's current situation.

Di Montezemolo on Saturday claimed the Italian marque are still committed to the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC), because a deal that would allow the team to get more revenue has not yet been reached yet with Ecclestone's SLEC company.

The five major European carmakers involved in Formula One - Ferrari, Ford, Renault, Mercedes parent DaimlerChrysler and BMW - set up GPWC Holdings to plan for their own championship from 2008 when the existing Concorde Agreement expires.

The Fiat president said the current situation is unsustainable and warned the smaller teams could disappear.

"The problems I revealed three years ago are now coming to the surface. It's impossible for this sport to stand on its feet with the main players getting only 47% of the television rights. It's just not realistic that the teams get the same amount whether at Monza there are three people or three billion of them.

"It was a mistake to sell the F1 business to who wasn't able to manage it: a TV tycoon that later went bankrupt. So now we find ourselves with the banks owning 75%. What kind of sport has ever been managed by financial companies?

"And besides that it's unthinkable that he who organizes keeps 90% of the incomes: he should get at most 20%. There is an alarming situation with teams risking to disappear, while we think there should be a lot of us and that it would be nice for this sport if for once Minardi and Jordan beat the big teams."

Di Montezemolo said the carmakers were all supporting Ferrari's view, but Ecclestone dismissed his claims and said he was confident a deal would be reached in time.

"Montezemolo wanted to give the impression that the constructors agree with his position. In fact they are all against Ferrari... because they win too much," Ecclestone was quoted as saying by the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

"I think that, as president of Fiat, he has less time to dedicate to Ferrari. Anyway the fact that he wants more money isn't new and I can certainly not solve it here at Monza. Anything can happen, but I think that we'll find a solution."