FIA backs teams in F1 income fight

With other cost cutting initiatives being put in place such as the standard Cosworth engine , Bernie Ecclestone will laugh at the idea to give the teams more of F1's revenue.

(GMM) Max Mosley, the president of F1's governing body, has sided with the teams in a new push to prize more revenue from the sport's owners.

The teams' FOTA alliance was already working hard to agree cost-cutting measures before the Japanese manufacturer Honda last week announced it was pulling out of formula one.

After Honda's shock news broke, the FOTA chairman, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, said the next step is a meeting with FIA chief Mosley.

"Furthermore we also agreed that it's necessary to meet with Bernie Ecclestone to talk about the distribution as far as the earnings are concerned," he said.

Mosley agrees that the revenue generated by formula one, owned by CVC and run by Ecclestone, should be distributed more generously to the teams.

"The FIA would join with FOTA in seeking to persuade FOM (Formula One Management) to divide the prize-money so that up to 12 teams are guaranteed at least $50m each."

On the other side of the fight is Ecclestone, who is refusing to budge.

"We have an agreement with the teams that they receive 50 per cent of the (pre-tax profits)," he is quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"What we do with our share is up to us."

The first meetings will take place later this week, as the motor racing world heads to Monaco for the annual FIA awards gala, and a key meeting of the World Motor Sport Council.