Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has launched a withering attack on Ferrari president and Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) chairman Luca di Montezemolo after the Italian criticised the way Ecclestone runs the sport.

Earlier this week di Montezemolo said FOTA wants to know more about the distribution of F1's revenues, in order to review the current 50-50 split between the teams and the sport's main shareholders CVC Capital Partners.

He also complained that F1 was not run in a "normal" manner and said the powers-that-be could no longer rule the sport by "divide and conquer" tactics.

The spat comes in the wake of cost-cutting agreements between FOTA and the FIA and foreshadows FOTA’s attempts to step up pressure on Ecclestone to give the teams a greater share of F1’s huge profits.

However, in a scathing reply to di Montezemolo, Ecclestone signalled that he is unwilling to give ground – and suggested Ferrari, in particular, has no cause for complaint about the money it receives.

He confirmed the open secret that the Maranello squad was given preferential financial arrangements as an inducement to split from the alliance of manufacturer teams that was threatening to break away from F1 several years ago – baldly stating that he "bought off" Ferrari in order to kill off the threat of a rival championship.

And in an apparent attempt to drive a wedge between the newly united teams, Ecclestone spelt out how much extra money Ferrari receives.

“The only thing [di Montezemolo] has not mentioned is the extra money Ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things Ferrari have had for years – the ‘general help’ they are considered to have had in Formula 1,” Ecclestone told The Times newspaper.


“They know exactly what they get, they are not that stupid – although they are not that bright, either.

“They get about $80 million [£54 million] more.

“When they win the constructors’ championship, which they did this year, they got $80 million more than if McLaren had won it.

“They were the only team that broke ranks with the other manufacturers. Why did they break ranks? That’s where the $80 million comes in.

“We ‘bought’ Ferrari. We ‘bought’ Ferrari’s loyalty.

“Our deal with Ferrari was that we ‘bought’ them so they would not go to the others.”

Ecclestone added that if the teams want to boost their income, they should look to Ferrari to distribute its extra $80 million rather than setting their sights on CVC’s cut.

“What he should do, rather than asking for money, with all the extra money Ferrari gets, he should share all that amongst the teams,” he said.

Ecclestone also dismissed di Montezemolo's strictures that the distribution of F1's revenues needs to be more transparent – pointing out that, under the terms of the Concorde Agreement, teams already have the right to examine the finances of the business.

“They have the right to send people into the company and search for everything,” Ecclestone said.

“Ferrari in particular, more than anybody, from day one, have had the right and they’ve never done it.

“We have bankers here and we’ve got CVC checking every single solitary thing.

“So anybody that starts saying that we’ve done anything wrong, I’ll sue the a*** off them.”

By way of a parting shot, Ecclestone suggested that di Montezemolo has less knowledge of what Ferrari is doing than his senior employees.

“It’s a shame he’s not in touch with people that seem to run the company as opposed to what he does – work as a press officer,” he said.