05/05/2011
NEWS STORY
With the current Concorde Agreement due to run out at the end of next season, the sabre rattling, as various parties look to secure the best possible deal, is underway, with Ferrari now calling on CVC to invest more in the sport.
Ahead of next week's meeting of the four leading teams, at which the proposed buyout of the sport will be discussed, as well as the new engine formula for 2013, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has made an uncharacteristic move into the political arena, the Maranello outfit clearly unhappy that CVC rakes in annual profits of up to £600m, without feeling the need to invest in the sport.
"At the moment everything is calm, but soon something will happen," he told Gazzetta dello Sport when asked about the forthcoming negotiations as the sport seeks to reach a new agreement.
"From the commercial point of view we need to clarify the following points," he continued, "Who will be involved in the talks? I mean which teams and constructors want to stay and which want to enter F1? And who is responsible for the show? A marketing partner is needed.
"It can be CVC once more," he continued, "but it must invest in F1 and develop, and we must make sure our sport becomes interesting for young people. F1 must speak their language, use their technologies, internet, tablets, social forums, and remain comprehensible for the audience.
"F1 is interesting for Ferrari only if these points are taken into consideration," he warned, "and we must avoid changing the rules too often. We need stability, on top of having grands prix in important countries for our sales, first of all in the USA."
As a further shot across the bow of CVC and Bernie Ecclestone, and in a week in which it was revealed that investment giant EXOR, which is majority owned by the Agnelli family, is considering joining News Corp in making a bid for the sport's commercial rights, he succinctly added: "All we can do is repeat what has already been said so often in the past: Ferrari stresses the importance of ensuring the long term stability and development of Formula One.