Jean Todt, the president of the leading body in motorsport is powerless to change the Formula One money division within the sport.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone is in charge of the commercial side of F1 and he is the man who brokers the deals with the F1 teams.
The current deal sees the bigger teams within Formula One receive the most money, whilst the smaller teams receive very little and not even enough to survive.
In November 2014 Caterham and Marussia had fallen into administration and Formula One was on the cusp of meltdown.
Caterham would eventually fall into liquidation and cease to exist and the same fate appeared to be reserved for Marussia, until a late financial package was found and the team was saved [and is now known as Manor].
Since that point however Formula One has done very little to deal with it’s problems. It’s been widely known for years, that the cost of Formula One was killing the smaller teams.
Recent changes to engine regulations which are yet to be implemented will be the first step towards cutting the costs for the customer teams.
But the heavily skewed financial rewards that look after the top teams remain in place, whilst the smaller teams receive very little.
Back in 2014 Force India, Sauber and Lotus threatened a boycott in protest at how revenues were divided within Formula One.
They didn’t carry out their threat, but there was a clear division within the sport which even saw them excluded from the F1 Working Group which discusses the future of the sport.
Whilst the potential crisis was avoided, it was not forgotten during 2015 with Force India and Sauber lodging a complaint with the European Union over the distribution of F1’s revenues.
FIA president Jean Todt has spoken out regarding the skew within Formula One, but insists that he is powerless to do anything about it.
‘The FIA has nothing to do with that. It is a link to the teams, the manufacturers and the commercial rights holder, Clearly it is a question if you give to the richest the most money and you give to the poorest the least money guess what happens? But I know exactly where I have the power and the strength and I don’t have the power to say ‘give this much money to this one relative to this one’. It is not in our hands. he told Sky Sports.
‘When people are threatening European Commission and things like that I am very relaxed as it can only go in favour of the FIA,’
Todt against F1 money divide
