FEBRUARY 10, 1997

Political happenings

FORMULA 1 politics has taken a back seat in recent weeks as the teams have been busy building their new cars for the coming season. It seems, however, that there have been attempts made to get Williams, McLaren and Tyrrell back into the fold. The three have so far refused to sign the 1997-2001 Concorde Agreement arguing that they do not get sufficient reward for their efforts while the F1 Rights Holder (Bernie Ecclestone) is making millions from the deals he is organizing.

The latest attempt to find an agreement ended in failure when the three rejected a proposal from the signatory teams.

We understand that the teams also discussed the possible integration of new teams Stewart Grand Prix and Mastercard Lola but it appears that the existing teams felt that they should have a season in which to prove themselves before being considered for membership.

While there continue to be rumors about legal action against the current arrangement from the three rebel teams it is hard to imagine how the signatory teams can be challenged as they have left open the possibility for the rebels to join.

The team bosses are also understood to have discussed the plan for there to be a winter test outside Europe. The plan to run at Phillip Island in Australia has fallen by the wayside and it now looks as though the teams will stay on at Interlagos after the Brazilian GP for a few days before moving on to the Argentine GP in Buenos Aires.