FIA, EU still to approve new F1 deal

Although Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and German bank BayernLB have agreed a deal with private equity investor CVC Capital Partners to a takeover of the sport's commercial rights, the matter still faces procedural hurdles over the next few weeks.

High level sources have claimed that the EU will be interested in the deal from a competitions' viewpoint, and whether a single company's control of the rights would give CVC too much influence.

The FIA side of affairs relates to the original sale of the sport's commercial rights to Ecclestone in a 100-year-deal in 2000. Part of that deal included what is referred to as a 'Don King' clause - which gives the FIA the right of veto over any subsequent sale of the rights that they did not approve of.

Boxing promoter Don King famously used a contractual clause that required any boxer wishing to challenge one of his fighters to agree to be promoted by King in the future. This ensured that King would represent which ever boxer won - effectively putting him in a win-win situation.

A spokesman for the FIA told autosport.com: "We have been aware of the discussions for some time. The completion of such a deal is contingent on the consent of the FIA.

"We await full and final details which will be considered by the FIA Senate and World Motor Sport Council in due course."

The decision will be discussed at the next meeting of the FIA World Council on December 9

It is understood, however, that there would likely be little resistance to the CVC move from the FIA - especially because of the company's good reputation in both the automotive and motor sport fields.

CVC off-shoot company Dorna have done a good job in controlling the commercial rights to MotoGP, with CVC have a controlling shareholding in the Automobile Association.