FIA budget to have 7m euro shortfall

Seven million euros will be missing from the budget of F1’s governing FIA in 2011.

A report in the British Express newspaper claims the shortfall is due to the expiry of a fourteen-year run of annual fees paid by Formula One Management, headed by chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

The deal, in which the sport’s commercial rights were handed over to Ecclestone, was signed in 1997.

The report said the 7 million loss represents 15 per cent of the FIA’s 48m annual budget, while the commercial rights generate almost a billion euros every year for FOM.

Experts said the FIA might have to revert to raising fees such as those paid by F1 drivers for their super licenses.

But a spokesman for the Paris-based Federation said: "I can’t give you the detail but it is not the case (that there is a hole in the budget)."

The FIA raised nearly 12,000 euros during the British grand prix weekend, mainly by imposing fines on F1 drivers for speeding.

Pedro de la Rosa’s 4,200 fine was the biggest for speeding, while Toro Rosso was fined $5000 for unsafely releasing Jaime Alguersuari into the pitlane.