MOTORSPORT: The major car manufacturers will join forces on Thursday to discuss setting up a separate World Championship from 2008. They hope it will give Bernie Ecclestone no choice but to increase their share of the formula one purse.
After two years of behind-the-scenes talks this is the first public recognition of a battle which the manufacturers believe will bring a "new era" to formula one.
"I can promise you now that we will explain to the teams our business plan and I have the feeling that things are very clear," said Patrick Faure, the vice-president of Renault, one of the founding members of Grand Prix World Championship.
"There has been the first era of formula one, now there will be another. We are happy to keep Bernie as CEO, but the majority of the money generated by formula one has to go to the teams.
"Everything else is negotiable. But on this we will not compromise. We need this sport to be paid for by the revenues it generates."
Representatives of the GPWC, which includes BMW, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Renault and Fiat (owners of Ferrari), will host a meeting in Munich where they will outline proposals - which have remained secret until now - for the rival championship to the competing formula one teams.
At the moment the top 10 teams share 47 per cent of the television revenue generated by the formula one World Championship, which roughly amounts to £175 million each, with the rest split between bankers for the bankrupt Kirch media empire (75 per cent) and Bambino Trust, acting for Ecclestone's SLEC empire (25 per cent).
Under the terms of these arrangements it is estimated that over $600 million (£380 million) are channelled outside the sport each year with the teams sharing between $175 million and $200 million from what McLaren chairman Ron Dennis describes "as the commercial resources we can understand and quantify". This is the money that the manufacturers want to retain within the sport.
So far GPWC, which was formed in November 2001, has been regarded as little more than political posturing on the part of the car makers. But with insufficient time left under the existing Concorde agreement - the contract that governs the running of the sport and expires in 2008 - for Ecclestone and the Kirch bankers to earn the income required to service the interest owing on a $1.4 billion bond launched on his behalf by the German financiers West Landesbank in 1999, Ecclestone is clearly under pressure to make a compromise with the teams and car makers. The new plan has widespread backing. "We support the GPWC initiative as a way of steadying the sport and giving it a stable future," said McLaren's MD Martin Whitmarsh.
"We would like to reach an accommodation with all the other parties (Ecclestone and the FIA, motor racing's governing body) but the time may come when this is not possible."
The Renault driver Fernando Alonso was released from hospital yesterday after suffering bruising to his left elbow, thigh and knee in a crash during Sunday's Brazilian grand prix. He is expected to be fit for San Marino on Sunday week.
Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix: 1. K Raikkonen (FIN) McLaren 1hr 29min 53.179sec, 2. G Fisichella (ITA) Jordan 0.831, 3. F Alonso (SPA) Renault 6.695, 4. D Coulthard (Br) McLaren 7.391, 5. H-H Frentzen (Ger) Sauber 9.392, 6. J Villeneuve (Can) BAR 17.910, 7. M Webber (Aus) Jaguar 20.070, 8. J Trulli (ITA) Renault 23.569, 9. R Schumacher (Ger) Williams 33.556, 10. C Da Matta (Bra) Toyota one lap.
Overall standings Drivers: 1. K Raikkonen (Fin) 26pts, 2. DCoulthard (Br) 15, 3. F Alonso (Spa) 14, 4. J Trulli (ITA) 9, 5. G Fisichella (ITA) 8, 5. J P Montoya (Col) 8, 7. R Barrichello (BRA) 8, 8. M Schumacher (Ger) 8, 9. H-H Frentzen (Ger) 7, 10. R Schumacher (Ger) 6, 11. J Villeneuve (Can) 3, 12. J Button (Br) 2, 13. M Webber (Aus) 2, 14. N Heidfeld (Ger) 1.
Constructors: 1. McLaren 41pts, 2. Renault 23, 3. Ferrari 16, 4. Williams 14, 5. Jordan 8, 6. Sauber 8, 7. BAR 5, 8. Jaguar 2.
