Bernie Ecclestone on Saturday said he is prepared to “tear up” contracts and start again, as the sport’s civil war appeared to ease slightly in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
The F1 supremo reportedly even apologised for calling struggling teams Lotus, Sauber and Force India “beggars” as they look for a fairer distribution of the team’s almost $1 billion in annual revenues.<\/p>\n
Also strongly chided during Ecclestone’s meeting on Saturday between the small teams and F1 owner CVC’s Donald Mackenzie was Christian Horner, the boss of the powerful Red Bull team.<\/p>\n
It is believed that during one recent meeting, Horner laughed and joked about the demise of the backmarkers Caterham and Marussia.<\/p>\n
“I hit the limiter on that one,” said Lotus owner Gerard Lopez, not referring specifically to Horner.<\/p>\n
“It was a complete lack of respect and from someone paid to be here rather than paying to be here.”<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the tide appears to have turned in favour of the three small teams, perhaps because of the threatened intervention of the European Commission’s competition arm.<\/p>\n
So after recently ruling out more money for the teams, Ecclestone said on Saturday: “Let’s see.<\/p>\n
“Personally, I would tear up all of the contracts and discuss the redistribution of money.\u00a0 No problem,” he added.<\/p>\n
The next major F1 meeting will take place on Sunday, when Ecclestone and Mackenzie get together with Mercedes (Daimler) and Ferrari (Fiat) bigwigs Dieter Zetsche and Sergio Marchionne.<\/p>\n
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said that the chiefs of the F1-involved car manufacturers will discuss cost-cutting, engines, and the distribution of the sport’s income.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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