The future of Formula One has been secured after motor racing’s governing body, the FIA, and 12 teams signed a new Concorde Agreement late on Friday night.
The agreement, which runs until the end of 2012, brings to a close months of wrangling between the FIA and the Formula One Teams’ Association (Fota) over the governance of the sport.
An FIA statement on Saturday read: ”Following approval by the World Motor Sport Council, late last night FIA president Max Mosley signed the 2009 Concorde Agreement, heralding a renewed period of stability for the FIA Formula One World Championship.
”The Concorde Agreement — a contract between the FIA, F1’s Commercial Rights-Holder and the participating Teams — sets out the basis on which the teams participate in the championship and share in its commercial success.
”The WMSC has also approved a slightly revised set of stable sporting and technical regulations (to apply from the 2010 championship onwards), which have been agreed by the FIA and the teams and which will be published shortly on the FIA’s website.
”The new Concorde Agreement, which runs until 31 December 2012, provides for a continuation of the procedures in the 1998 Concorde Agreement, with decisions taken by working groups and commissions, upon which all teams have voting rights, before going to the WMSC for ratification.
”In addition, as agreed in Paris on 24 June 2009, the teams have entered into a resource restriction agreement, which aims to return expenditure to the levels that prevailed in the early 1990s.
”With the 2009 Concorde Agreement and the resource restriction agreement in place, the FIA looks forward to a period of stability and prosperity in the FIA Formula One World Championship.”
BMW Sauber, who will pull out of Formula One at the end of the season, are the only current team to have not signed the agreement, which confirms the cost-cutting measures agreed between the FIA and
the teams at the end of June. – AFP
