New F-1 management group hints of changes coming at top

Monday, April 25, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.

SUN WIRE SERVICES

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Bayerische Landesbank and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which together own 75 percent of Formula One's commercial rights, are considering making management changes in the sport, according to team officials.

It comes a month after the three banks reached a settlement with billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, which they say gives them management power in line with their shareholding. Ecclestone, 74, holds the other 25 percent of the sport's rights company, SLEC Holdings Ltd.

"SLEC is just about to sort out how they want to run their business," Mario Theissen, motorsport director of carmaker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, told reporters before Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. "We're waiting to see what they decide."

BMW-Williams is among nine teams challenging Ecclestone's 24-year management hold on the most-watched motor sport. They want a larger share of revenue and more say in decision-making, and have threatened to start a rival series

The banks are unlikely to go as far as to remove Ecclestone as F-1's controlling figure, said Frank Williams, who owns the BMW-Williams team.