Ferrari chief raises possibility of F1 breakaway
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo on Friday again raised the possibility of a breakaway Formula One series in 2013 as the team's parent company considers taking over the sport with News Corp.
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which has owned the rights to F1 since 2006, has already been approached by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and Ferrari investor Exor.
But the Concorde Agreement - the contract between F1's commercial rights holder, governing body FIA and the participating teams that set the basis on which teams participate in the F1 championship and share in its commercial success - expires at the end of next season.
''So theoretically CVC doesn't own anything,'' Di Montezemolo told CNN.
The teams could choose to go it alone, reviving a threat made in 2009 during their dispute with then-FIA president Max Mosley about cost-cutting measures.
''We have three alternatives,'' Di Montezemolo said. ''We renew with CVC, or we theoretically, as the basketball teams did in the U.S. with great success, we create our own company like the NBA to run the races, the TV rights and so (on). And third, we find a different partner.''
Exor has a controlling 30 percent stake in global automaker Fiat Group - the majority owner of sports car manufacturer Ferrari, which has competed in every F1 championship since it was launched in 1950.
News Corp.'s U.S. media outlets include Fox Television, and the British government has approved its plans to buy the 61 percent of satellite broadcaster BSkyB it does not already own.
