F1 teams want bigger piece of action on revenue

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo recently said that more money should be going to the teams, rather than F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone - and that appears to have struck a chord with his fellow team bosses.

"We want more," said British American Racing boss Craig Pollock in this week's Autosport magazine. "The true investment in the sport has been made by the teams. As a businessman I know what the outgoings and the incomings are and they just don't add up.

"The sport wouldn't be here without the teams and it is time to say, 'okay, certain people have got enough money and maybe it should be split up among the teams in a different way'. It is a controversial thing to say, but I believe it has to happen."

Revenues in the sport are shared out by a framework laid out in the Concorde Agreement, the defining document on how F1 is run. Unless Ecclestone, the teams and the sport's governing body, the FIA, are in agreement otherwise, the current version runs until the end of 2007.

Despite backing calls for more money to the teams, McLaren boss Ron Dennis believes an early termination is unlikely.

"We are in a world of comparisons, especially in the fiscal sense," he said. "In the United States, with basketball, football and NASCAR, if you compare the percentage given to the promoter and the percentage given to the competitors, then we are way off normal.

"There is a time to renegotiate, but I think the current agreement will remain the same until 2007."

Jaguar Racing boss Bobby Rahal says that as well as the teams themselves, the engine manufacturers are also seeking better returns for their investments.

"When you look at the money these car manufacturers are investing, they are going to expect some return," he said.

Five manufacturers involved in F1, including Ford (Jaguar), Renault, BMW, Fiat (Ferrari) and Mercedes-Benz, have been investigating the possibility of purchasing a slice of Ecclestone's SLEC trust, which holds the TV and commercial rights to F1. However, the recent securing of a majority share by German media groups EMTV and Kirch has complicated the issue.