FIA president Jean Todt has indicated that he will seek to negotiate a better financial deal for the governing body during the next round of Concorde Agreement talks.
The current commercial document which outlines how Formula 1’s revenues are divided among its stakeholders runs until the end of 2012, meaning serious discussions over extending the agreement are likely to begin in earnest this year.
In 2001 Todt’s predecessor as FIA president, Max Mosley, signed over the commercial rights to F1 to Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management for a period of 100 years, which generated a reported $360m for the governing body.
In an interview with the Financial Times Todt has said that while he has discovered the terms of the 100-year deal cannot be altered – “it is what we have” – he believes the next Concorde Agreement needs to reflect current times and therefore give the FIA a bigger slice of the financial pot.
“I will make sure that everybody realises that since the agreement was signed, times have changed,” he told the FT.
“Technology has changed. Evolution has a price. I must make sure that the funding for the FIA is correct.”
F1 went to the brink of a devastating split when the Concorde Agreement was last renegotiated in 2009, the majority of teams – under the umbrella of FOTA – having briefly threatened to form their own series after disagreeing strongly with Mosley’s controversial budget cap plans.
Although last season witnessed the advent of a more cordial relationship between the teams, the FIA and FOM, many have predicted that tensions could flare up again before the end of 2012.
Ecclestone last month labelled Todt a “a poor man’s Max” and the FIA “a joke” amid wider criticism of the governing body’s engine regulations for 2013, which include the introduction of turbo-chargers.
Former Ferrari chief Todt, however, is not keen to be drawn into a public slanging match.
“It is important not to overreact,” he said.
“I feel with confrontation, unless it is necessary to achieve a result, you lose time. I prefer to achieve results with harmony rather than confrontation.”