Ferrari and Red Bull are said to have signed the future Concorde Agreements

The end of the 2011 season was marked, among other things, by the departure of Ferrari, Red Bull, Sauber, and possibly Toro Rosso, from FOTA, the Formula One Teams Association. Livio Oricchio, correspondent for the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, then predicted: « The consequences of the decision made by Christian Horner, Luca di Montezemolo, and Peter Sauber are enormous for the future of Formula One. The renewal of the Concorde Agreements with Bernie Ecclestone will soon be announced by Red Bull, Ferrari, and Sauber. After that, as every time Ferrari makes such a decision, the rest will follow. »

Indeed, apart from the issue of budget reductions, the imminence of the opening of negotiations on the Concorde Agreements undoubtedly played a role in the defections within FOTA, as non-member teams could negotiate on their own behalf.

It was at the height of the war between FISA-FOCA (the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile and the Formula One Constructors’ Association) that the first Concorde Agreements were signed in 1981, governing the distribution of F1 profits between the Federation and the signatory teams. In 1987, as they were reaching their expiration, the Agreements had to be renegotiated, with Bernie Ecclestone inheriting the management of F1’s promotional rights and creating Formula One Promotion & Administration, now known as FOA. These Agreements were renewed in 1992 and then in 1997, not without difficulties in the latter case. Indeed, in 1995, Bernie Ecclestone had obtained from the FIA the management of Formula One’s commercial rights for a period of 14 years, causing opposition from Tyrell, McLaren, and Williams, who did not sign the 1997 Agreements. However, facing the loss of influence and money suffered by these three teams, an agreement was reached in 1998 with Bernie Ecclestone. Initially expiring in 2007, it was extended until 2009, the end date of Bernie Ecclestone’s contract for the management of Formula One’s commercial rights. The 2009 season was marked by the FIA-FOTA confrontation and the renewal of the Concorde Agreements until December 31, 2012, an episode during which Bernie Ecclestone himself renegotiated F1’s commercial agreements.

Currently, the teams share 47% of the F1 revenues, a share they wish to increase in the upcoming Concorde Agreements. To face the teams’ demands, Bernie Ecclestone, as often, leans on their divisions, and while Luca di Montezemolo recently indicated that negotiations would begin in January, various sources, starting with *Auto Motor und Sport* and *Autosprint*, claim that Red Bull and Ferrari have already signed the new Concorde Agreements: Red Bull and Ferrari are said to have already reached an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone to define the conditions of their future participation in the world championship. This agreement, which has not been formalized, dates back to November. This would explain, for example, why Ferrari left the FOTA, a decision that was officialized after the championship but was actually made since September, as we can read in *Autosprint*.

As a result, the teams that are members of the FOTA – who still hoped to convince Ferrari and Red Bull to reconsider their decision to leave the Association – would lose any means of applying pressure, since Bernie Ecclestone would be assured the presence of the oldest team and the reigning double world champion. Not to mention that the potential signing of the Concorde Agreements by the Italian team and its Austrian counterpart would likely come with advantages that other teams would not benefit from: It is likely that, as in the past, Maranello has received a financial bonus in exchange for its loyalty until 2017. We will just have to wait for confirmation or denial of such a signing since, more often than not, secrecy and evasiveness are the norm in this kind of situation.