FIA president Max Mosley has said he doubts that the planned breakaway series from Formula One was ever a serious threat. Five major manufacturers with links to major F1 teams have been threatening to run their own championship from 2008. The manufacturers, which have formed the Grand Prix World Championship, want a greater share of television revenue and an assurance that the sport will remain on free-to-air television.
Mosley said: "We had had all this talk for two years. But we have had no sporting regulations, no technical regulations and there is nothing to show there is any serious intention to do anything even in 2008.
The present Concorde Agreement, the secret document which governs the sport, runs out in 2008, but the chances of a rival series being set up by then were always slim. The sport could not sustain two rival championships and the setting-up of the GPWC has always been seen as a manufacturers' bargaining tool. The group said last week that it is in talks with the F1's shareholders about the sport's future.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
