Formula One moved closer to a new seven-year commercial agreement, seen as key to any future flotation, on Saturday after rights holders and the governing FIA said they had signed a preliminary document setting out the final steps.
“The Formula One Group and the FIA have signed an agreement setting out the framework for implementation of the 2013 Concorde Agreement,” a joint statement said at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“This agreement will come into force upon approval by the respective governing bodies with the signatory parties in the coming weeks.”
The confidential ‘Concorde Agreement’, which expired at the end of last year, sets out the commercial side of the highly lucrative sport including the distribution of revenues.
It must be agreed by the rights holder, governing body and teams — 11 of them at present — and negotiations have encountered numerous stumbling blocks over the past year.
Bernie Ecclestone, the 82-year-old British billionaire who is commonly referred to as the sport’s ‘supremo’ and runs Formula One for CVC, has talked of a listing in Singapore towards the end of this year.
“There have obviously been lots of things we’ve had to sort out,” Ecclestone, who has bilateral agreements in place with 10 teams pending the signing of a new Concorde, said of the breakthrough in talks.
“This forms most of the Concorde Agreement for the teams as well, so we can get the whole lot put to bed now.”