Anyone who saw the BBC’s coverage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix might well have seen this item, my old sparring partner Martin Brundle and David Coulthard racing each other in two seater F1 cars. It was shot a few weeks before the event and one of the BBC producers, Richard Gort, knocked it into shape. He’s done a great job and it’s an entertaining bit of telly.

Many readers from overseas will not have seen this and it’s worth a look.

I noted some comments yesterday by Mario Theissen, the team principal of BMW Sauber, about the need for the teams to have more say over the venues visited by the Formula 1 circus. I’ve heard these sentiments expressed many times before, but it will be interesting to see what traction they get this time around.

Presently there is no race in North America, the largest market for most of the manufacturers and many of the sponsors in F1, while there is a threat to the races Germany and the UK, with Hockenheim unable to pay, Nurburgring unwilling to go back to an annual event and Donington not sure to be ready for 2010. F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone has long maintained that in the 21st century, Europe will become the third world and regions like the Middle East and Far East will become the first world.

That may be some time away yet and  the major TV markets are still in Europe, as witnessed by the fact that there is pressure to delay the start times of races in the Far East.

This season sees the arrival of a second race in the Middle East with Abu Dhabi and next year F1 will go to South Korea.

The manufacturers present in F1 have been applying all sorts of pressure on Ecclestone and on the FIA over the past year or so, culminating in the announcement at Silverstone of a breakaway series.

They backed down from that after talks with Ecclestone and his partners CVC and there will be an uneasy accommodation going forward with the manufacturers keen to push certain priorities. One of them is definitely the calendar. It makes no sense to have a race in Turkey attended by fewer people than there are in the paddock and yet to have no presence in North America.

Race promotion is the second largest source of revenue for the F1 commercial rights holders, making up 27% of the total take (TV and media is 37%). CVC’s projections are for revenues from race promotion to rise by almost 10% per year,  from $304 million in 2006, for example  to $425 in 2011 and $445 in 2012. This will not be achieved by cutting hard-up venues some slack.

The model lately has been to jettison events if they cannot afford the increased fees and this has seen the loss of Indianapolis and Montreal among others. Although the teams receive 50% of all commercial revenues, they argue that a balance needs to be struck between pushing for maximum returns and securing a foothold in the key markets, which will have wider benefit for the teams, their backers and the sport in general.

“We have to make sure that we are in the important markets, ” says Thiessen.

“It is always a matter of finding what the right balance is between what we can earn, what Bernie can earn, and what is important for the market.

“I would expect a much closer co-operation between the commercial rights holder and the teams if it comes to such decisions in the future.”

It’s not a question of “if”, it is a question of “when” it comes to such decisions.

This goes back to the topic of ‘dictatorship’, much in the news a couple of weeks back. In a benevolent dictatorship, one man makes the key decisions for the benefit of all the participants.

The calendar discussions will be an early acid test of how the new relationship is working between teams and commercial rights holders. FOTA was not able to negotiate a veto over venues F1 visits in this peace deal, but this will show how much influence FOTA and its manufacturer activists are having over F1 affairs in general.

The story has run this week in the Mail, the Express and the Telegraph. It refers to the accounts for the year 2007, which were filed at Companies House on 21st January this year, three weeks ago.

They refer to the eye-catching figures of £67 million of debt and losses of £12.7 million. I’ve seen the accounts and that’s definitely what they say, but it’s not clear what the debt is made up of, beyond a £16 million bank loan, £4m of which is guaranteed by Gillett’s partner Paul White. White owns a construction business in the Midlands.

The accounts are for year end 2007, so they cover the period at the peak of the business cycle and the assets are valued in there at £55 million. It does not say who valued them. Not much in the property world is worth the same today as it was in 2007. Interestingly, the accounts say that the group meets its day to day capital requirements through the bank loan and through support from White. White has indicated that he is willing to go on supporting it, but the auditor notes that he is under no obligation to continue to fund it. There is no mention of Gillett guaranteeing any of the loan.

There are warning signs all over the accounts from the independent auditors, who say that they were ‘not able to obtain or review’ documents of financial forecasts or evidence that Donington has binding commitments with providers for the funds required.

This is interesting because Gillett told me last year that he had a deal with IMG and Goldman Sachs on a debenture scheme, which guaranteed him the money. He has said all along that he would reveal details of the debenture scheme at the end of March, so we’ll have to wait until then to get the full picture. Bernie Ecclestone has said that he wants to see that the thing is on track by September if the race is to go ahead.

The auditors add that the current downturn creates ‘uncertainty particularly over a) the level of demand of the group’s services and b) the availability of bank and other finance in the foreseeable future.’

Gillett told Ian Parkes of PA Sport this week that the whole thing is on track, despite the doubters. He denies that it has the debts being quoted and says that a computer model of the new track facilities will be launched very soon. He said that the 2008 accounts had not been filed yet, but the current stories relate to the most recent set of accounts, for 2007.

All very mysterious. One thing is clear though; Abu Dhabi this ain’t.