OCTOBER 22, 2002

GPWC announces F1 proposal

The board of the Grand Prix World Championship company met a few days ago and decided to make a proposal to SLEC, the holding company of the Formula One group, to restucture Formula 1 so that all parties can work together. The GPWC has now gone public with the proposal which they say will increase the payments to the F1 teams, create a stable situation for the sport, provide a strong regulatory framework, allow TV coverage to be free-to-air and have transparent financial dealings.

The GPWC, rather oddly, said that in addition to the proposal it will continue with its plans to start its own World Championship in 2008.

The release is interesting in that it will not be greeted warmly by the FIA, the organisation which has the ultimate control of the commercial rights to F1. The suggestion that there is not a strong regulatory framework may simply be clumsy phrasing but it is certainly open to misunderstanding.

The deal being offered apparently calls for a new Concorde Agreement which will last until 2017.