Ecclestone wants new Concorde Agreement

Bernie Ecclestone would be willing to re-negotiate the Concorde Agreement in order to negate the threat of car manufacturers forming their own rival championship. The Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC), comprised of Ferrari, DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Ford and BMW, plans to start its own racing series when the current Concorde Agreement -- the secretive set of rules and regulations by which Formula One is run -- ends in 2008.

Ecclestone wants the teams and everyone else involved to be prepared to adapt their views as the current Concorde Agreement is outdated: "We are bogged down with history and folklore," he told the Times newspaper. "We are racing with decisions that have nothing to do with our current circumstances."

"The regulations do not reflect today's values and what we need to be doing now. If everybody sits around a table, we could start work on it now, but I need the teams and the rest to say they want change."

Ecclestone was critical of the manufacturers, believing they use F1 as a platform to sell cars: "They (GPWC) wanted to come in because Formula 1 was a big car showroom for them and we are just helping them to sell cars. They are just holding out to take control of F1 without paying any money for it. The whole thing has become a nightmare."

"Formula 1 doesn't need this sort of trouble and we need to find a way to negotiate a new Concorde Agreement so teams can be looked after and we can see the future clearly."