04/11/2004
NEWS STORY
Following last week's announcement from the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC), that it has recruited the services of International Sports and Entertainment AG (iSe), to start creating the "operational and commercial structure" for its new series, all eyes are on Bernie Ecclestone.
Thus far, Ecclestone hasn't commented on GPWC's latest move, preferring instead to continue adding new countries to his global F1 monopoly board.
The GPWC isn't due to get underway until 2008, and in the meantime, the F1 supremo has a far more pressing engagement, his battle with the banks that own 75% of F1.
Ecclestone is known to be trying to raise the necessary funding to buy out the banks, which are far from happy, because, despite owning three-quarters of F1, don't have a say in "the business".
The legal battle with the banks could be settled by the end of the year, at which point Ecclestone will almost certainly turn his attention to the manufacturers and the GPWC.
"It very much depends on what happens with Bernie and the banks," Minardi boss Paul Stoddart told AP. "If Bernie wins the court case and retains control, I don't see the GPWC getting a hand on it (F1) for a few years to come.
"If the banks win control, then I think a deal will be done fairly rapidly with GPWC," he added.
"Would we want to lose Bernie? Categorically not," said the Australian. "Do the teams want more money? Categorically yes."