Adam Cooper F1

McLaren Racing has reported a loss of £3.1m for the calendar year 2012, having made a profit of £22.3m in 2011.

The team’s annual accounts confirm that its costs increased and its turnover fell in a season that brought six GP victories.

Turnover was down from £172.3m to £165.7m, which the team says is “wholly due to the changing business relationship with former shareholder Daimler.” In 2011 Daimler and associated companies put £38m into the team, and in 2012, the figure given is zero. However, because Daimler is no longer a shareholder the accounts do not have to specifically outline dealings with Mercedes, which instead fall under the general income figure with sponsorship etc.

Meanwhile overall costs rose by £24m, which it says is “mainly due to increased driver costs, racing at more events and the increased travel, as well as the associated costs of conducting wind tunnel testing away from the company’s headquarters.” Costs are listed at £123.4m.

Regarding the loss of Vodafone at the end of this season, the team says “we are well into our search for a new title partner. Tellingly it adds that “looking forward the Honda arrangement will transform our business model.”

The team employed 597 people in 2012, up by just one on the previous year.

With Daimler now gone the shareholding is split between Bahrain’s Mumtalakat (50%), Ron Dennis (25%) and TAG Group (25%).

In addition to producing a 2014 calendar the World Motor Sport Council has reiterated the significance of the FIA’s agreement with the F1 Group in preparation for the finalising of the Concorde Agreement.

In addition to the obvious financial considerations the deal formalises the new form of governance for the sport.

A statement said: As confirmed earlier today by the FIA and the Formula 1 Group, the framework for the implementation of the 2013 Concorde Agreement has now come into force. This agreement provides the FIA with significantly improved financial means to pursue its regulatory missions and to reflect the enhanced role undertaken by the FIA in motor sport. The parties have agreed a strong and stable sporting governance framework which includes the Formula 1 Group, the FIA and the participating teams. The agreement lays down solid foundations for the further development of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

As revealed here earlier today, Todt has agreed to create a body to deal with the allocation of the extra funding generated by the Concorde Agreement: The members of the WMSC congratulated the FIA President for the successful and favourable conclusion to the negotiations. The members also accepted his proposal to create a new task force, after the FIA Presidential Election, charged with proposing the allocation of the additional financial resources for the FIA and its membership.

The World Council has also addressed the tender process for single suppliers to F1 – confirming that it and not Bernie Ecclestone makes the ultimate call. In this new process, the FIA will be confirmed as the body in charge of conducting the tender process. The Commercial Rights Holder will be entitled to run the commercial negotiations with potential suppliers, with a view to the selected single supplier being officially appointed by the WMSC.

In order to cover the transition period and considering the contracts already settled by FOM and the Teams with Pirelli, the WMSC today confirmed that Pirelli may continue to supply tyres to competitors in the FIA F1 World Championship, subject to the requisite technical and safety standards of the FIA being met.

Ben Sulayem has experience of driving an F1 car, albeit briefly…

Mohammed Ben Sulayem could be set to join forces with David Ward in an attempt depose Jean Todt from the FIA Presidency.

Ben Sulayem had been touted as a third candidate, but a more likely scenario is that he and Ward will eventually team up.

Rally driver Ben Sulayem is President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE, and an FIA Vice President for sport. In June he was appointed as the head of the FIA’s Motor Sport Development Task Force, which is charged with looking at the future of the sport.

In that role he attended FIA regional gatherings in Latin America and Africa last month, which would have been a timely opportunity for him to do some networking. He is also due to present a preliminary report to the World Motor Sport Council today. The focus is on how to spend the FIA’s funds at grass roots level – something that will have a wide appeal.

Ben Sulayem was a staunch supporter of Max Mosley, and as such followed the former president’s lead in transferring his allegiance to Todt at the last elections in 2009. However as early as 2010 there were rumours that he would be willing to stand against Todt in 2013.

Given that like Ward he has support from Mosley’s former followers his candidacy would split that backing – unless they end up combining forces.

A cynical view is that Ward has in effect done the ‘dirty work’ by drawing attention to ethics and complaining about Todt’s alleged breaking of FIA rules, so Ben Sulayem can step into the fight with doubts having already been raised in the minds of voters. Ward is very serious about the need for reform in the FIA, but is believed be willing to step aside and back a third candidate who adopted his agenda for change.

If Ben Sulayem’s candidacy is confirmed he will probably get the full support of the Middle East region, which will damage Todt’s prospects of retaining his job. He’s also said to be popular with the African region.

It’s intriguing to note that Ward’s manifesto suggests that the FIA should have a President and CEO, and adds that the FIA should “restrict eligibility for FIA Presidential election to Club Presidents or Senior Office Holders nominated by their clubs.” Ward himself does not fall into that category.

The Gulf News reports a spokesman for Ben Sulayem as saying “At this stage, he has seen David Ward’s manifesto and has now asked to see Jean Todt’s manifesto as well. Any decision he makes after that will be based on what is best for the FIA going forward.”

Mark Webber’s 10-place grid penalty has put a focus on the ‘three strikes’ system, introduced to give some meaning to the previously rather pointless awarding of reprimands.

Webber was unlucky enough to be the only driver to already have two in his 2013 account. So who else has earned one this year and thus has to be a little careful over the remaining six races? Here’s the full list, in alphabetical order.

F Alonso, Stopping on the track (Singapore, Race)

J Bianchi, Failing to stop for the weighbridge (GB, Qualifying)

V Bottas, Failure to slow for yellow flags (Canada, FP1)

P Di Resta, Causing a collision (Italy, Race)

L Hamilton, Failure to enter the pit lane correctly [bollard] (Belgium, FP2)

C Pic, Re-joining the track in an unsafe manner (Belgium, FP2)

K Raikkonen, Below minimum time for SC lap (Monaco, Race)

N Rosberg, Failure to slow for yellow flags (GB, Race)

A Sutil, Driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit entry (Australia, Qual)

In addition Lotus has two reprimands, for an unsafe release in FP2 at Silverstone, and because a team member (actually a Renault engineer) was not wearing a helmet during Romain Grosjean’s stop in Singapore. Although there is no totting up system for teams a repeat of a similar offence could earn a stiffer penalty.

Back in June the business media first reported that F1 Group co-owner CVC Capital was interested in bidding for IMG, the long established sports management and media group.

Last week more details emerged, with Sky linking CVC to a consortium that includes Bahrain’s Mumtalakat (a shareholder in McLaren) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (backer of the country’s Grand Prix). They are reportedly aiming for a 60/20/20 ownership split.

IMG is a successful and multifaceted business, and is obviously of interest to CVC in its own right. However the fact that other F1 related entities are involved in the bid raises the tantalising prospect of IMG becoming involved with CVC’s highest profile investment. Indeed a well placed source told this writer in Singapore that IMG “could be the future of F1.”

In other words while we have been speculating for years about which individual might one day replace Bernie Ecclestone, we should now consider that a corporate entity in the form of IMG is being teed up for the role.

One of IMG’s key strengths is in media rights, and its website claims that it is “the world’s largest independent distributor of sports programming,” and that it “distributes across all forms of media, including TV, audio, fixed media, inflight and closed circuit, broadband and mobile.” The latter two categories would seem to be ripe for exploitation by F1.

IMG has been on the fringes of F1 for decades, since Jackie Stewart first teamed up with company founder Mark McCormack in the sixties. Later the company managed other top drivers, including Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, and most recently Heikki Kovalainen, although the Finn jumped ship earlier this year.

However, it’s long been the paddock consensus that Ecclestone is no great fan of IMG, and compared to other sports, the company’s involvement at the top level of motor racing has been relatively limited. Will that now change?

Other major bidders are also in the hunt, so there’s a chance that CVC will lose out anyway. But if it does win it will be fascinating to see if its plans for IMG really do overlap with F1…