Boullier urges Todt and Ecclestone to end their ‘little war’

RENAULT team principal Eric Boullier has urged FIA president Jean Todt and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone to end their “little war” for the sake of the future of the sport.

Negotiations are due to start shortly with regard to a new Concorde Agreement, the commercial arrangement that binds together the teams, the FIA and commercial rights holders CVC.

F1 is a money-making machine, with annual profits of £600 million (€676.6m), which is why there is interest from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, in partnership with investment giant EXOR, regarding a takeover.

It is also why everyone wants a bigger slice of the financial pie, notably Todt who is eager to renegotiate the terms of a particular deal sanctioned by predecessor Max Mosley.

Mosley sold the rights to F1 to Ecclestone for around £300m (€338.3m) over a 100-year period, but that figure was undervalued and Todt is now looking to renegotiate.

When you add in the fact Todt and Ecclestone are at odds over the new engine regulations due to come into force for 2013, it is easy to see why their personal feud could overshadow the teams’ hopes of a new Concorde Agreement. Unsurprisingly, the threat of a breakaway series has been quietly aired.

“There are a lot of discussions regarding the engine. We all know there is some difference of interests between FOM (Ecclestone) and the FIA. It is the usual game,” Boullier said. “The engine is definitely one debate, but for me the main debate is that we need to think about F1.

“We have to compete against sports like football, the Olympic Games and others which have developed drastically in terms of business, which is the key, along with sponsors.’’

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali yesterday suggested that CVC, a private equity firm, should at least reinvest some of the profits they make from F1.