European F1 Carmakers Open Up to Honda and Toyota

Honda and Toyota will attend the next meeting of a new company set up by European carmakers to take control of Formula One, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has said.

"The matter is moving forwards, so much that even Honda and Toyota will attend the next GPWC meeting," Montezemolo was quoted as saying in Thursday's Gazzetta dello Sport at Ferrari's Christmas party.

A spokesman for Honda's Formula One interests told Reuters, however, that the company was not yet aware of any invitation to the next GPWC meeting. Neither Japanese manufacturer, despite having factories in Europe, belongs to the European carmakers group ACEA.

ACEA members FIAT, Ford, BMW and DaimlerChrysler all either own teams or have major involvement in them and have been threatening to break with Formula One commercial rights holders SLEC in 2007. The Europeans have set up a company, known as GPWC, to run their own Grand Prix series if an acceptable deal with German media group Kirch, who control 75 percent of SLEC, was not forthcoming.

The carmakers are determined that Formula One must remain on free to air television and want control over the revenues to help reduce the huge costs of competing. They announced last month that FIAT and ACEA boss Paolo Cantarella will head GPWC.

Honda provide engines to both Jordan and British American Racing (BAR), while Toyota are entering Formula One in their own right for the first time in 2002. SLEC was formerly owned by Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, whose family trust retains a 25 percent stake, and have the commercial rights to Formula One for 100 years.

But the teams are only bound to the existing series until 2007 under a separate accord. Di Montezemolo said teams had forgiven Ecclestone for "certain excesses of greed" in the past but the situation had changed since he had ceased to have total control.

"Ecclestone has great merits, he has grown Formula One to these levels," he said. "He has done it well and we have forgiven him certain excesses of greed."

He said teams received 43 percent of Formula One's revenues compared to 47 for Ecclestone and the FIA governing body, adding that this was acceptable.

"It's fine with us while he is there. If he sells, no," di Montezemolo said. "From 2008 there will be another F1, run directly by those who produce the show, that is the big firms that make the engines and are already competing now."