Speculation in the paddock suggests that Ferrari is likely to receive shares in Formula 1 as part of a new Concorde Agreement lasting from 2013 to 2020.
With the current Concorde Agreement coming to an end this season, Bernie Ecclestone and the sports owners, CVC Capital Partners, are hard at work trying to agree a new contract which binds the teams to the sport and decides what percentage of the sports profits they receive in prize money.
With Ferrari recently quitting the Formula One Teams’ Association, along with Red Bull, Sauber and Toro Rosso, they are free to agree their own deal with Ecclestone – something Ferrari already enjoy under the current agreement.
It’s been proposed that under the new deal, the sport or part of it, will be publicly floated, with Ferrari, the sports longest standing outfit, entitled to a shareholding which could potentially be worth millions each season.
It would also see a representative, likely Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, join the board of directors at Delta Topco (the group which owns F1, with Delta Topco being under CVC ownership). Sky News also reports that Red Bull will also be offered the opportunity to appoint one of its representatives to the board, likely to be either owner Dietrich Mateschitz or team principal Christian Horner.
Whilst this deal is in its early stages and yet to be finalised, it’s believed both Ferrari and Red Bull have agreed.
Other changes include an increase in the amount paid to teams via the sports prize fund, which is currently made up of 50% of the sports profits. The new deal doesn’t specifically see a percentage increase, but further incentives such as a £6 million ($10m) bonus for those teams which have won the Constructors’ title and have competed every year since doing so, under the same chassis name. This incentive benefits Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams.
Other incentives have been agreed, but the details haven’t yet been made public.
Editor’s note: This Concorde Agreement is in the very early stages of approval and could change dramatically between now and the signing deadline date of February 2013.
