The head of Toyota's Formula 1 team, John Howett, said on Tuesday that he firmly backed Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo in his bid to re-negotiate an accord on the division of revenue from the sport.
Montezemolo is head of the newly formed Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) which is seeking to revise an accord on revenue sharing with Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Group, which holds the rights to and manages the commercial side of the sport.
''I believe that the majority view in FOTA is that in a modern sport revenue should go more to those who take part in the sport and not those who hold the commercial rights,'' Howett told The Times British daily.
''What we want is a more equal arrangement, similar to that in other sports,'' he added.
Ecclestone currently takes 50% of Formula 1 revenue with the rest split between the teams, whereas in soccer's Champions League, for example, the teams get 96-97% of revenues, Howett observed.
Ecclestone has rejected calls to give the teams any more money.
The Toyota team chief, who is also FOTA deputy chairman, said that a possible solution could be to reinvest some of Ecclestone's 50% back into the sport.
''If we want Formula 1 to remain unique there must be some reinvestment into core infrastructures and participation in the sport,'' he explained.
In The Times' interview, Howett confirmed that Toyota, unlike Honda, would remain in Formula 1 despite heavy sales losses for the parent company.
He also said that Italian driver Jarno Trulli would remain on the team.
There had been speculation that the Italian would be replaced by Toyota's third driver, Kamui Kobayashi.
