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8:54 AM
The FIA has thrown some light on progress with the new Concorde Agreement, the contract that deals with the commercial arrangements between the governing body, the Formula One group that holds the rights for the next 100 years, and the participants.
The previous such document expired at the end of 2007 and FIA president Max Mosley has since then been resisting efforts by Formula One and the teams to finalize a new contract giving them more influence in the governance of Formula One.
Formula One's majority owner, CVC Capital Partners, is increasingly anxious to get team signatures on a firm contract, and new proposals have been coming from the Formula One Teams Association.
An FIA statement on Thursday continued criticism of the teams.
"The deal that the FIA reached with FOTA in Paris [on June 24] was to extend the 1998 Concorde Agreement with some minor amendments to the governance section. This would have put in place a Formula 1 Commission to deal with future rules with any major question going to the FIA Senate. However, on June 25, instead of the 1998 Agreement with some minor amendments, the FIA received 350 pages of a completely new Concorde Agreement. It being wholly impractical to involve the Senate in such detailed negotiations, the contract was handed over to FIA lawyers, who worked on it tirelessly over the weekend June 27-28 and gave comments during a three-hour conference call on Monday, June 29. Then the 350 pages of June 25 turned out not to be the final FOTA/FOA version and elements of a new version appeared, partly on July 2, partly on July 3. Again, FIA lawyers worked over the weekend on July 4-5, as did FIA president Max Mosley and FIA deputy president for sport Nick Craw. Further comments were then given on a three-and-a-half-hour lawyers' call on Monday, July 6 and again in a conference call yesterday, July 8, following the circulation of further drafts. Further significant progress was made yesterday evening in yet another conference call. At present it seems probable that a final draft of the 2009 Concorde Agreement will be agreed and ready for signature in the coming days."
The previous such document expired at the end of 2007 and FIA president Max Mosley has since then been resisting efforts by Formula One and the teams to finalize a new contract giving them more influence in the governance of Formula One.
Formula One's majority owner, CVC Capital Partners, is increasingly anxious to get team signatures on a firm contract, and new proposals have been coming from the Formula One Teams Association.
An FIA statement on Thursday continued criticism of the teams.
"The deal that the FIA reached with FOTA in Paris [on June 24] was to extend the 1998 Concorde Agreement with some minor amendments to the governance section. This would have put in place a Formula 1 Commission to deal with future rules with any major question going to the FIA Senate. However, on June 25, instead of the 1998 Agreement with some minor amendments, the FIA received 350 pages of a completely new Concorde Agreement. It being wholly impractical to involve the Senate in such detailed negotiations, the contract was handed over to FIA lawyers, who worked on it tirelessly over the weekend June 27-28 and gave comments during a three-hour conference call on Monday, June 29. Then the 350 pages of June 25 turned out not to be the final FOTA/FOA version and elements of a new version appeared, partly on July 2, partly on July 3. Again, FIA lawyers worked over the weekend on July 4-5, as did FIA president Max Mosley and FIA deputy president for sport Nick Craw. Further comments were then given on a three-and-a-half-hour lawyers' call on Monday, July 6 and again in a conference call yesterday, July 8, following the circulation of further drafts. Further significant progress was made yesterday evening in yet another conference call. At present it seems probable that a final draft of the 2009 Concorde Agreement will be agreed and ready for signature in the coming days."
