Ecclestone reveals special 'Ferrari deal'
20 December 2008
As Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has said he wants to see a greater transparency from Ecclestone about the revenues in Formula 1 Bernie Ecclestone now hits back at the Italian by revealing Ferrari's special deal with Formula 1 where the Scuderia is receiving millions of dollars extra.
An angry Ecclestone has told The Times that the Ferrari president should be the last person to be complaining about how much revenue the teams receive. "The only thing he has not mentioned is the extra money Ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things Ferrari have had for years - the 'general help' they are considered to have had in Formula One," Ecclestone told The Times.
"Ferrari get so much more money than everyone else," Ecclestone said. "They know exactly what they get, they are not that stupid, although they are not that bright, either. They get about $80 million (about £54 million) more. When they win the constructors' championship, which they did this year, they got $80 million more than if McLaren had won it."
Ecclestone reveals that the reason for paying Ferrari the extra $80 million goes back to 2003 when F1 teams tried to form a breakaway championship. Ecclestone explained: "They were the only team that broke ranks with the other manufacturers - why did they break ranks? That's where the $80 million comes in. We 'bought' Ferrari. We 'bought' Ferrari's loyalty. Our deal with Ferrari was that we 'bought' them so they would not go to the others."