F1 set to scrap prize money structure?

Is Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone really about to scrap what is seen as the current unfair prize money structure?

The current distribution of F1 revenue has been agreed right through to 2020, as all the teams signed up to the current Concorde Agreement under those terms.

The new Concorde Agreement will start being negotiated soon and there is a big push amongst the teams to set up a new system to redistribution the prize money.

?I am going to have a good look at how things work to see if I can come up with something more equal for all the teams.? Bernie Ecclestone told The Times.

?The Premier League has a good way of distributing the prize money, so maybe that could work for us, There will be people who will like it and people who won?t like it, and people who will suffer.?

The English Premier League primarily split the prize money from Sky Sports, BT Sport and International rights evenly amongst the 20 teams, with added bonuses for final positions in the league table and the amount of times shown live on television.

The current system in Formula One however is very complicated, as highlighted by Autosport Magazine back in April of this year.

They published details on how much the 11 teams on the grid this season will receive in regards to their payments from Formula One Management [FOM].

Despite some of the calculation being based on a team’s classification in the 2015 Formula One World Constructors championship and another calculation using their performance over the past three years, Ferrari are the biggest winners due to Formula One’s skewed prize money structure .

On top of the classification prize, there is also a Constructors’ championship bonus, which has been thrashed out individually between FOM and Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren.

There is also a heritage bonus, which Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes.

To add to the complicated system there is also an extra annual payment which Mercedes and Red Bull Racing benefit from.

All of this equates to a potential 2016 payout of $192million for Ferrari.

Mercedes will receive around $171million, Red Bull $144million, Williams $87million, McLaren $82million, Force India $67million, Renault $64million, Toro Rosso $57million, Sauber $54million and Manor $47million.

The disparities are glaringly obvious, move past Ferrari earning far more than back-to-back F1 champions Mercedes and look how much Red Bull Racing receive despite finishing behind Williams.

McLaren also do well considering they finished behind Force India, Renault, Toro Rosso and Sauber last season.

This is the point the likes of Force India and Sauber have made to the EU Commission, who are pushing for an even split of the money.