When the Formula One teams met last week at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, they had yet to announce who would take over the helm of their newly-formed Formula One Teams Association. The group was formed to effectively negotiate on behalf of all the teams on a new commercial deal with Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management and on new regulations with the FIA. Reports now indicate that Luca di Montezemolo will act as the group's leader and spokesman.
Now if you're thinking that Montezemolo isn't a team principal, you're right. In fact, he hasn't been actively responsible for the Scuderia in decades. The hereditary Marquis de Montezemolo is president of Ferrari and chairman of the entire Fiat Group, and recently finished his term as chairman of industrial association Confindustria. Certainly a heavy hitter, well above to pay-grade of Scuderia Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali. The top-level appointment certainly lends a great deal of weight and credibility to the new association.
In the highly competitive world of Formula One racing, the only thing teams can agree on is money -- they want more of it. To that end, they've set up the new Formula One Teams Association.
Unlike the previous Formula One Constructors Association – which represented only the independent teams and came, somewhat ironically, to be dominated by Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley when they were team owners – the new group has the backing of all the teams (both independent and manufacturer-owned). The association was founded this week in a meeting of team representatives at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, also including the participation of Formula One rights holders Bernie Ecclestone and Donald McKenzie. The Formula One Teams Association will represent the interests of the constructors (grand prix-speak for teams) in negotiating the final terms of the new Concorde Agreement, which determines profit sharing among the parties involved in the sport. Speaking with one voice, the teams surely hope to be able to secure a bigger share of the revenues from the grands prix. Little wonder then that Ferrari, in the short statement after the jump, called the meeting "extremely constructive".
