Engine-makers 'want what's theirs'

A breakaway Formula 1 style championship will only be avoided if the manufacturers planning such a move are given greater control of the commercial exploitation and future direction of Grand Prix racing

That is the message sent out by F1's five European-based engine suppliers - Fiat(Ferrari), Daimler-Chrysler (Mercedes), Ford (Jaguar), BMW and Renault - who yesterday announced their intention to pull out of F1 in favour of a self run rival. (As reported on Autsport.com 04/04/01, click here)

The move was initially seen by many as a bluff to prevent German media companies Kirch and EMTV from using their newly-acquired majority stake in F1 to switch it to pay-per-view TV.

But 'Big Five' insiders say the manufacturers want control of what they see as theirs by right, before agreeing to stay within the current F1 framework.

"These guys pay for the sport and quite rightly they want what is theirs," said one manufacturer insider. "It is not just about the price of few percent of the shares."

Kirch and EMTV have acquired a 75 percent share in SLEC, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's family-owned trust that has the commercial and broadcasting rights to F1 until 2110.

Kirch says it is willing to sell a percentage stake to the manufacturers, either singularly or as a group, but it now appears the Big Five' want a more fundamental role in return for their massive investments.

In a prepared statement issued by Fiat chairman Paulo Canterella, who heads the European manufacturers' umbrella organisation ACEA, said: "It's quite simple really. The constructors are the protagonists in Formula 1. They provide the raw material for the sporting event and the spectacle. And so they would like to be able to run everything more directly, with greater overall guarantees.

"It's going to take a long time, but we are starting to work now for our own Formula One series, one that will be increasingly avant-garde on both a sporting and technological level."

Kirch claims that under the Concorde Agreement, the document that governs Formula 1, no pull-out could happen before 2007. But that agreement specifically covers only the teams themselves and not the engine-suppliers.

Motorpsort's governing body, the FIA, says it is prepared to sanction any new series which meets its criteria on such matters as safety.