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The Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC) refers to a number of proposed alternative world championship auto racing series to rival or replace Formula One.[ citation needed ] Founded in 2001, the GPWC was created as a tool to assist the companies in bargaining with Bernie Ecclestone for an agreeable extension to the 1997 Concorde Agreement, the contract by whose terms the teams compete in Formula One.
In 1979, the Commission Sportive Internationale, an organization subordinate to the FIA which was at that time the rule-making body for Formula One, was dissolved and replaced by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile, or FISA, which would serve the same function. FISA clashed repeatedly with the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), which represented the teams' interests. FOCA's chief executive at the time was Bernie Ecclestone and his legal advisor was Max Mosley, while the president of FISA was Jean Marie Balestre.
The two organizations' disagreements, which came to be known as the FISA–FOCA war, resulted in several races being cancelled. Goodyear threatened to withdraw entirely from Formula One, an event which would have been commercially disastrous for the sport, so Ecclestone organized a meeting of team managers, Balestre, and other FISA representatives at the offices of the FIA in the Place de la Concorde, Paris, France. On 19 January 1981, after thirteen straight hours of negotiation, all parties present signed the first Concorde Agreement, named after the plaza in Paris where the discussions took place. The Concorde Agreement is a contract with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Formula One teams and Formula One Administration that dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races and take their share of the television revenues and prize money. In 1995, the FIA granted commercial rights of Formula One to FOA for a period of 14 years in exchange for an annual payment from Ecclestone. Formula One subsequently signed another extensions of the Concorde Agreement in 1987, 1992 and 1997. [1] However, McLaren, Tyrrell, and Williams did not sign the agreement in 1997 citing Ecclestone for not allowing more commercial opportunities to be made available. A subsequent amendment led to the three teams signing the agreement in 1998. [2]
GPWC Holdings was founded in November 2001 by car manufacturers BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford and Renault. The initial directors of the company were Burkhard Goeschel (BMW), Juergen Hubbert (DaimlerChrysler), Paolo Cantarella (Fiat), Wolfgang Reitzle (Ford) and Patrick Faure (Renault). The company was registered in the Netherlands and Cantarella served as the chairman of the GPWC. [3] The car manufacturers were all originally committed to remain Formula One motor racing for the long-term. Formula One team principals (excluding Arrows team principal Tom Walkinshaw) were introduced to the GPWC in a presentation held in Geneva on 27 November 2001. [4] GPWC contacted German media group Kirch Media, saying that if the media outlet was unable to increase the share of Formula One commercial rights payable to existing teams, GPWC would form their own independent rival racing series in 2008. The car manufacturers proposed a $50 million one-off advance to Ferrari in an effort to join the GPWC with an additional bonus of 4% from commercial revenue. [5] Kirch Bankers offered the car manufacturers a 30% stake in their business with the condition that plans for the rival series were dropped. [6]
A reorganisation occurred in June 2002 when Cantarella resigned and was succeeded by the head of the car division of DaimlerChrysler Juergen Hubbert. The president of Ferrari Luca di Montezemolo would represent Fiat with Group Vice President-Global Product Development of Ford Richard Parry-Jones taking over from Reitzle's position after leaving in May 2002. [7]
The future of the GPWC was cast into doubt in mid-January 2005 when Ferrari, FIAT's F1 team, announced it had secretly come to terms with Ecclestone and signed an extension to the Concorde Agreement for a one-off payment amounting to 100 million dollars (US). Ecclestone expressed his expectation that the remaining teams would shortly follow suit despite the initial 40 million dollar (US) offer being retracted. However, at around the same time Honda and Toyota showed interest in working together with GPWC.
Following the FIA's announcement of unilateral rule changes for the 2010 season including voluntary budget limits, the FOTA teams had threatened to pull out of Formula One. On 18 June 2009, FOTA confirmed that they were to form a breakaway series starting in 2010. [8] The teams were quoted saying "We've no alternative than to commence preparation for a new championship," following their four-hour-long meeting. The FIA responded to the teams' move in a statement, saying: "We are disappointed but not surprised by FOTA's inability to reach a compromise in the best interests of the sport." [9]
On 23 June 2009, FOTA took the threat further by leaking a provisional calendar for a breakaway series in order to counter claims by the FIA that the teams lacked the sufficient funding to organize their own tournament. The schedule included 17 races made up of some circuits that were currently hosting a Grand Prix in the 2009 Season (such as Singapore), some circuits that had not held a Grand Prix in recent years (such as Jerez), and some that have never held a F1 Grand Prix. Some circuits were ones that have been controversially removed from F1 calendars by the FIA, including Montreal having been removed from the 2009 Season. [10] However, on 24 June 2009, FOTA reached an agreement with the FIA to continue with F1. However, on 8 July, the FOTA group of teams were informed that they were not yet officially entered for the 2010 season. On 1 August, it was announced that the FIA had signed the new Concorde Agreement, bringing an end to the crisis and securing the sport's future until 2012.[ citation needed ]
Formula One is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents around the world on either purpose-built circuits or closed public roads.
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for many auto racing events, including Formula One. The FIA also promotes road safety around the world.
Bernard Charles Ecclestone is a British former business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport. As such, he was commonly described in journalism as the 'F1 Supremo'.
Max Rufus Mosley was a British businessman, lawyer and racing driver. He served as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body for Formula One.
The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 June 1978 at the Scandinavian Raceway. It was the eighth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors, and the last Formula One Swedish Grand Prix to date.
The 1982 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 36th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It included two competitions run over the course of the year, the 33rd Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 25th Formula One World Championship for Constructors. The season featured sixteen rounds between 23 January and 25 September. The Drivers' Championship was won by Keke Rosberg and the Constructors' Championship by Scuderia Ferrari.
The 1980 Formula One season was the 34th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors, which were contested concurrently from 13 January to 5 October over a fourteen-race series. The season also included one non-championship race, the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Formula One teams and the Formula One Group which dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races, and how the television revenues and prize money is shared. There have been eight versions of the Concorde Agreement, all of which terms were kept strictly secret: the first one was signed in 1981, with newer agreements being signed in 1987, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2013; the current agreement was signed in 2021. The secrecy was broken by racing journalist Forrest Bond, when the 120-page 1997 Concorde Agreement was published at the end of 2005 by RaceFax.
The FISA–FOCA war was a political battle contested throughout the early 1980s by two now defunct representative organizations in Formula One motor racing, the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) and the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA). The battle boiled during the late 1970s and early 1980s and came to a head when the racing teams affiliated with FOCA, an equivalent to a racing team union, boycotted the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix.
The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the exercising of the sport's commercial rights.
Jean-Marie Balestre was a French auto racing administrator, who became President of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) from 1978 to 1991 and President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) from 1985 to 1993.
The Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (GPMA) was an alliance of car manufacturers that participated in Formula One formed to act as a tool to assist the companies in bargaining with Bernie Ecclestone for an agreeable extension to the 1997 Concorde Agreement, the contract by whose terms the teams compete in F1. It was then superseded by the Formula One Teams Association, founded in 2008, and disbanded in 2014.
The Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) was an organization of the chassis builders (constructors) who design and build the cars that race in the FIA Formula One World Championship. It evolved from the earlier Formula 1 Constructors Association and came to be dominated by Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley. Frank Williams, Colin Chapman, Teddy Mayer, Ken Tyrrell were also significant members. FOCA served to represent the interests of their privately owned teams – usually against the race organisers and later against the manufacturer-owned or supported teams such as Ferrari, Matra and Alfa Romeo. Ecclestone became the organisation's chief executive in 1978, with Mosley taking on the role of legal advisor.
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. In doing so, Vettel became the youngest World Drivers' Champion in the 61-year history of the championship. Vettel's victory in the championship came after a dramatic season finale at Abu Dhabi where three other drivers could also have won the championship – Vettel's Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
The 1980 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 1 June 1980 at Circuito Permanente del Jarama. Originally scheduled to be part of the 1980 World Championship of Drivers, following the running of the race it was announced that World Championship points would not be awarded to the competitors, making it a non-championship race. The winner of the race was Alan Jones, driving for the Williams team. Jochen Mass finished second for Arrows and Elio de Angelis third for Team Lotus.
The 1981 South African Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held on 7 February 1981 at Kyalami.
The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) was a group of Formula One teams that formed at a meeting in Maranello on 29 July 2008. The organisation was formed to give the teams a united voice in negotiations with the FIA and the Formula One Group regarding the future of Formula One. Initially led by Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, FOTA's original aim was to negotiate the terms of the new Concorde Agreement, the commercial contract which governs the championship.
The FIA–FOTA dispute was a series of political clashes between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the now defunct Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) over proposed changes to the rules and regulations for the 2010 Formula One season. The debate began over the introduction of a budget cap and culminated on the eve of the 2009 British Grand Prix with the FOTA teams announcing their intention to form their own rival breakaway series. From that point onwards, the dispute was eased to the point at which a new Concorde Agreement was signed in August 2009.
The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was scheduled to be the opening round of the 2011 Formula One World Championship. Planned to be held on 13 March 2011 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, it was postponed on 21 February 2011 due to civil unrest. On 3 June, it was announced that the race would be held on 30 October, which would have made it the 17th of 20 Grands Prix held during 2011. Following controversy over the reinstatement of the race, organisers of the Grand Prix abandoned their bid to host a race in 2011. The race would return in 2012 amidst the conflict; the decision to run the race would be met with heavy controversy and numerous protests from civilians and major diplomatic figures alike.
The 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 67th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 64th FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Eleven teams and twenty-three drivers contested the nineteen Grands Prix that made up the calendar for the 2013 season, with the winning driver being crowned the World Drivers' Champion and the winning team the World Constructors' Champions. The season started in Australia on 17 March 2013 and ended in Brazil on 24 November 2013.
