F1 teams submit complaint to EU over running of the sport

Force India and Sauber have made a formal complaint to the European Union regarding the way in which Formula One is run, and how prize money is distributed; specifically identifying the vast gap between the top five teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams – and rest of the field.

A statement from Force India said: “Sahara Force India is one of two teams to have registered a complaint with the European Union questioning the governance of Formula 1 and showing that the system of dividing revenues and determining how Formula 1 rules are set is both unfair and unlawful. Due to the ongoing legal discussions, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

Annaliese Dodds, a UK member of European parliament, was the first to question the sport’s distribution of finances after Caterham and Marussia went into administration towards the end of 2014, but could not act on the matter until teams made a formal complaint.

“At Force India I saw just what a great role F1 can play in creating the kind of high-quality jobs in science and engineering that we want to see much more of as a country. We simply cannot afford to lose those kinds of jobs,” Dodds said.

The smaller teams in Formula One struggle financially because the majority of the sport’s income goes towards the bigger teams. Last year Ferrari made the most money, despite finishing just 4th in the constructor’s championship. This was due to the fact that they make the most out of premium payments - $97million. Premium payments were agreed in 2012 by the top five teams before the Sixth Concorde Agreement expired.

Force India were the most well-paid of the smaller teams, with an income of $60million, compared to total income of Ferrari which was $164million. Sauber and Force India refer to these payments in their complaint:

“These unfair side payments put the independent teams at a perpetual sporting and economic disadvantage and directly harm the sport. By locking in a permanent advantage for a select few teams, the sport has been gravely undermined.

"The beneficiaries have vastly more to spend on technology, development, research and equipment, creating an ever-wider performance gap and, effectively, pre-determining the outcome of the world championships.

"These unlawful practices hurt the sport, its participants and the many thousands of people in and around Formula 1, and the many millions of European fans.”

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone seems unfazed by the complaint, however.

“We haven't discouraged or encouraged anybody to do anything," he said to AUTOSPORT, "That's what the European Union is there for, for these sorts of things. They must give it a go, and if they're successful it's good, and if not then it costs nothing."

“The bottom line is, what they are saying is we're giving too much money to some people and not enough to the others. But all this was done whereby everybody knew what they would be getting and what would happen, and they all signed contracts which were very clear. They've had a change of heart I suppose, and I don't blame them, not at all.

"Somebody will have a look at it and either decide the agreements they've signed are valid and they stick by them, or they're not valid and they have to be changed. From our point of view it won't make any difference at all.”

If the European Union are unhappy with what they find, they are allowed to reorganise the governance of the sport and issue a fine of 10% of turnover which, last year, was £1.06billion.

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