Formula One teams close on deals with Bernie Ecclestone

THERE was a splendid moment of insight into the cunning mind of Bernie Ecclestone at the first US Grand Prix a few years ago.

THERE was a splendid moment of insight into the cunning mind of Bernie Ecclestone at the first US Grand Prix at Indianapolis a few years ago.

 An American journalist, used to the transparent financial workings of US sport, innocently asked Formula One's chief executive the size of the prizemoney.

Ecclestone's eyebrows rose to meet his grey fringe as he fixed the hack with a stare and replied quietly: "We don't talk about money."

Information is power and only Ecclestone knows who gets what in Formula One.

No surprise, then, that the much-trumpeted, shoulder-to-shoulder solidarity of the teams turned into an every-man-for-himself run to the bank once Ecclestone waved the terms of the new Concorde Agreement, the commercial deal that determines who gets what, under their noses.

The teams had made it clear that they wanted more than the half of F1's  $US1bn income Ecclestone doled out to them.

After all, CVC Capital Partners, F1's owner and Ecclestone's employer, collects the other half and it does almost nothing for the sport. The City-based private equity firm invests nothing, gives nothing and is represented only at the most glamorous races.

The teams formed their own trades union, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), to lead the collective bargaining with Ecclestone on the crucial new commercial deal. Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari chairman, was a prime mover and Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, was the organisation's head.

Then the offers started to come. Ferrari were first over the side to leave FOTA, followed by Red Bull, the team set up by Dietrich Mateschitz, the company's billionaire founder and an associate of Ecclestone's.

Then Ecclestone dropped his bombshell in the minutes before the third practice session on Saturday for the Malaysian Grand Prix by announcing that "a majority" of teams were already signed up. That included McLaren, the Fota leaders, who have spent months urging solidarity.

This being Ecclestone and F1, though, no one is quite sure who has formally signed, but one thing is certain and that is that Mercedes have not agreed to a new deal. The Germans, with their in-built boardroom formality and sense of fairness, have been cast adrift by the rest of the leading teams.

There were dark warnings yesterday that they might quit the sport as a result, but that seems highly unlikely given their massive investment in F1.

The teams now close to securing their deals with Ecclestone were busy putting gloss on the outcome in the hours before the Malaysian Grand Prix.

There is no doubt that a rapid end to negotiations is unexpected, but removes any prospect of an internecine battle that would irritate a public worn out by F1's internal politics.

The Times