Teams Agree to Hold Fire on Ecclestone Agreement

Ferrari's rivals agreed at a meeting on Tuesday not to rush into a new commercial agreement with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

The nine team bosses also decided to ask the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) to postpone a planned meeting on Friday to discuss major changes to the regulations, although an FIA spokesman said it would go ahead as planned.

The FIA's suggested measures for 2008, seen by Reuters, included switching to a single tyre supplier and a huge reduction in aerodynamic downforce to up to 10 percent of current levels.

Telemetry would be eliminated, standard brakes introduced and rpm limits imposed on engines. There would be no spare car and race weekends would be reduced to two days.

Ecclestone said money matters were not discussed at Tuesday's meeting. According to one weekend newspaper report, teams would be offered $3 billion of guaranteed revenues over five years in exchange for signing an agreement up to 2012.

Champions Ferrari, already isolated over their refusal to sign up for a 30-day limit on in-season testing, were not invited to Tuesday's gathering at a Heathrow airport hotel.

The Italian team distanced themselves from the rest by agreeing unilaterally last week to extend the existing commercial agreement with Ecclestone from 2008 to 2012.

The teams and Ecclestone signed a letter to FIA president Max Mosley saying it would be premature to discuss his latest cost-cutting proposals and outlining their own way forward. They plan to sit down with the FIA after the first three races instead.

"The commercial side and technical side will all be wrapped up together," Ecclestone said. "There's plenty of time to get that done."

The existing Concorde Agreement expires at the end of 2007 and carmakers are still threatening their own rival series from that date.

"We consider that it is vital prior to any far-reaching discussions about the future of our sport that we await the output from the research to be commissioned by the commercial rights holder," the team bosses said in their letter.

Long-Term Stability

They said they wanted to assess first the impact of rule changes for 2005 - such as engines lasting for two Grands Prix - in the initial races of the year and consult their key stakeholders.

"Whilst we share your desire to reduce the cost of participating in Formula One, it is critical that the fundamental values of Formula One are preserved to safeguard its long-term stability and success as the pinnacle of world motor sport," the letter added.

"Cost-cutting proposals should be evaluated in the wider context of the sport's appeal to its fans."

The team bosses said they expected to be in a position to bring their collective proposals to the FIA by mid-season.

"In the meanwhile, we all fully recognise the need for a period of stability in our sport and we will adhere strictly to the spirit and letter of the 'Concorde Agreement' for the remainder of its term and we trust that the FIA will do likewise," they said.

Tuesday's meeting did agree the 30-day testing limit, with all nine teams signing up for it.