Formula one teams angry over $5bn debt

The formula one teams want new revenue negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Formula one teams are set to demand a bigger share of the sport's revenues after growing alarmed at the amount of interest being paid by its owners to service $5bn (£3.2bn) in debts.

Teams are resisting efforts by the FIA, motorsport's governing body, to force them into a series of controversial cost-cutting measures. The first steps in the FIA's plan came last week when tenders closed for the standard-engine contract, the cornerstone of the thrift programme.

Analysis of accounts for the 12 months to last December of formula one's holding company, Delta3 (UK), shows that CVC Capital, which bought the sport from a consortium of banks two years ago, loaded more than $2.4bn of bank loans on to it during the leveraged buyout. In addition to these were almost $2.6bn of loans from CVC, although the private equity firm insists it will not enforce repayment of this debt since it acts only as a standard tax-reduction mechanism.

Paying the loans cost Delta3 $229.6m in interest last year - equivalent to almost half the central distribution to the constructors - a fact that has dismayed teams, who five years ago threatened to break away from the sport. "There is anger felt from many teams," said one insider at the Formula One Teams Association (Fota).

"We have had banks, oil companies, financial institutions and pharmaceutical companies with us as sponsors. We have raised this money. Why do we have to keep cutting costs? The sport earns a lot of money so let's look at our share."

Last year the paper losses were huge. With loans "rolling up" interest - nearly $500m had accrued in the 13 months since November 2006 - Delta3 made a loss after tax of $458m on turnover of $938m. This prompted the accountants to acknowledge that Delta3 will only be a "going concern" if CVC continues to support it "to meet its liabilities". CVC, which has recently raised $20bn in funds that are committed for 10 years, insists it is a long-term investor.

CVC also points out that the constructors already receive a larger take than ever from central funds under the terms of the 2008-2012 commercial agreement. The prize fund has doubled from $250m a year.

That has added significantly to Delta 3's costs since the last available accounts. The CVC director Nick Clarry said that despite the financial downturn the sport's revenues this year have grown almost 40% to $1.3bn, providing a comfortable margin for bank obligations to be met. "There is a lot of headroom," said Clarry. "Our revenues need to go down $400m before we have any pressure from the banks."

CVC must repay the majority of the $2.4bn loans on expiry in 2014 but says they are being paid off ahead of schedule from "excess profits" formula one generates. It currently has no available estimates of what Delta3's 2008 profits will be.

Now the teams want to go back to the negotiating table with the sport's commercial operators at Delta3, led by formula one's commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone. "What's changed since [2006] is the teams have seen how much debt CVC has put on the sport," said another Fota insider. "We thought CVC's interest was to get income from running the business but not to such an extent that the sport has to perform to its maximum ability for five or six years just to recover the debt. This is why there is interest in new negotiations."

Despite the increased revenues from the 2008 commercial memorandum, no formal contract has been concluded with the teams. CVC is confident a new agreement will soon be reached, considering the obstacle to be the engineering minutiae of regulations. Yet tensions remain. "The logistical costs are so high now," added one source. "[The championship] used to be 12 races, then a maximum of 17. There used to be 80% of the races in Europe and now 80% are across Asia: the costs to the teams are much higher now."

Ecclestone has sought more dates in more exotic locations due to the higher race fees received in places such as Bahrain and Singapore. These have been pivotal in raising 2008 revenues. But an equally controversial development is the FIA's thrift programme. Teams suspect that the ruling by Max Mosley's FIA to introduce the cost cuts has been directed by Ecclestone and Delta3. Clarry said no pressure had been applied.
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