F1: Ferrari/Red Bull Linked To New Ecclestone Deal

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari/Red Bull Linked To New Ecclestone Deal

Formula One chief may have some surprising news...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 17, 2012 Melbourne (AUS)

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone (Center) talks with Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner (Left) and driver Sebastian Vettel (Right) at the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix on November 24, 2011 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo: Getty Images)

A website that has been known to be close to Bernie Ecclestone reported this week that we could expect a big announcement soon, and a close aide of the F1 boss confirmed to SPEED in Australia that news was indeed on its way – and that it involved the structure of the sport and would shake a few people up.

Some team insiders speculated that it might involved Ferrari and Red Bull signing up to a new Concorde Agreement, and the UK’s Sky News has now reported something along similar lines with the suggestion that those teams will have a stake in the ownership of the sport via the new 2013-2020 deal.

This would be linked to a public offering of a sale of part of CVC’s stake in F1, which Sky says will be placed by Goldman Sachs and which values the sport at “well over £10bn.” Another recent UK newspaper report suggested that any available shares will be those currently owned by Lehman Brothers, which has a 15.3% stake.

Sky reports that Ferrari as usual has a special position as the oldest team in the sport, and there’s extra cash for the first team to have won consecutive constructors’ titles since 2008, the team in question being Red Bull.

There is also mention of single car customer teams for new entrants.

A Ferrari/RBR deal is certainly logical, and if true the next question has to be what deal did or will those teams get as the first signatories, and what is available to everyone else – the FOTA members, essentially.

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.