EU investigation into F1 could be the final straw when it comes to Red Bull leaving the sport.

The investigation into the sport's governance and how its revenues are distributed was sparked when Sauber and Force India lodged official complaints with the EU competition commission.

Amongst other things, the two teams are seeking an answer as to how 65% of the sport's prize money is shared by five teams who also have a major influence over the sport's rules.

Under the current system, Red Bull, which only entered the sport in 2005 after buying the Jaguar F1 team, received around £25m more than Mercedes last year, despite the German team winning both titles.

Already seriously contemplating leaving F1 after failing to secure an engine deal with Mercedes and unsure if it can get same-spec units as the works team from Ferrari, Dietrich Mateschitz has made no secret of his anger, his loss of passion for the sport, and the possibility of walking away, a move which could signal the end of two of the current teams.

His frustration will not be helped by the fact that the EU investigation could see the Austrian team forced to hand back some of its prize money if it is ruled that the payment system was illegal.

"It doesn't matter to us who gets the money and how it is spent," Bernie Ecclestone told The Times. "That is up to the teams. If they want things doing differently, then we will do it differently."

Yesterday's confirmation that Sauber and Force India have gone ahead with their complaints resulted in a hectic day for the F1 supremo with (CVC boss) Donald Mackenzie understood to have headed to Ecclestone's office at the crack of dawn.

CVC, which owns a 35% stake in the sport, is understood to have been specifically singled out in the complaint.

The American private equity house bought its stake in 2006 with two loans. In that time it has halved its stake to 35% and reaped around $4.4bn.

According to a report in the Guardian in July, this means a return on investment 351.8% and with its remaining 35% stake controls the voting rights of F1's Jersey-based parent company, Delta Topco. This gives the stake a valuation of up to $8bn and if CVC achieves that price, it will push return on investment to over 1,000%, making it the most profitable deal in the company's 34-year history.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by scf1fan, 05/10/2015 16:19

"Typos -v- spell check! I give up!! (Until we get an "edit" button . . . :-/"

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2. Posted by scf1fan, 01/10/2015 21:18

"Damn! Tough crowd here today. LOL I said with the "design legacy of A.Newey," so . . . I'll stand by my statements. (If the Renault is that far down on power, Riciardo is doing a masterful job to be where he is, and I'd attribute that to the chassis, as well as his skill as a driver.)

Do you listen to the commentators describe the "twitchiness" of one chassis versus another, or how one chassis tends to use up its tires? There are no real secrets as to why those are true. MB can tend to compensate for that with their greater power by cranking on more wing. (So their chassis is good, but not great.) You seem pretty keen to want to dismiss the technical issues in your observations about when the "RB era" ended, but that is a bit of a simplistic view. (Every team has to deal with all those issues every year.) Certainly I'm not sure that the Renault PU is down 40 or 50 or whatever horsepower, but no one disputes that it is down, a lot!! And HP is one of the 3 main legs of F1 performance. (Power, Handling, Driver!)

If you read my other comments I'm no fan of RB. BUT!!! There are many men and women at RBR and STR that are working their asses off to get their team/car driver to perform at it's best. I won't dismiss their efforts despite that of their owner and his advisor.

If you wish to see drivers all in (basically) the same car, please go watch NASCAR! Most of their cars just have different stickers on them. (There performance differences are mostly due to team/driver/car preparation. ;-) LOL What you describe as want you want to watch in F1, isn't, and NEVER has been F1. If you get your F1, I'll go elsewhere. (Very quickly! ;-)"

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3. Posted by koko, 01/10/2015 14:31

"@scf1fan - I have doubts about the chassis ... he may have started it or have been involved as a 'consultant', but I doubt it's he's 100% work. Remember RB "era" finished with the new engine style - different balance, different weight distribution - which means a different chassis (philosophy?). Best chassis - without having any technical info - seems to be Mercedes' one. Except Singapore - they kicked stuff around any circuit.

And another reason I want to see them out is the way they treat their drivers. If one driver is in God's (read: H.Marko) grace, even if he screw it 10 times in a row - he's still favoured. Even if he disobey team's orders, crash the car ... whatever. And I am not talking _only_ about Vettel here. And I am watching F1 for drivers. Them I want to see fighting. I don't care about any technical titbits (which are secret anyway) ... IMO, the best F1 would be to give all drivers identical cars and let them do their jobs."

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4. Posted by scf1fan, 01/10/2015 11:51

"@koko - Four years ago, the Renault was maybe down 5 or 10 HP where as today, they might be down the equivalent of 50 HP. I suspect that the RB chassis, still with the design legacy of A.Newey, could well be the best chassis out there."

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5. Posted by koko, 01/10/2015 8:42

"When one stop whining, it means he's happy. RB will stop whining when they will exit F1. If there's their happiness, so be it! :)

I remember they complained even when they were winning. One car on the top on the podium, the other one not - it was because there were problems with the engine, brakes, the horoscope was not favourable and so on.

Renault engines were not the most powerful on the grid 4 years ago when they were winning everything. ;-) Maybe Newey's "retirement" meant more than they're willing to admit."

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6. Posted by scf1fan, 01/10/2015 3:50

"So RB was getting a sweet deal and they were still whining about it . . . 'nuff said."

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7. Posted by Tweek, 01/10/2015 3:47

"TORC. I think your onto something. F1 used to be more like sport. Undetermined till the checkers..... Now it more closely resembles hulk hogan wrestling...... When you arrive at the track you already know who's gonna win. The only question is who's gonna get hit with the chair.... Cough....Pastor Maldonado....cough !!!!!"

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8. Posted by Yeyox02, 30/09/2015 23:01

"Things will change dramatically in Formula 1 when Mr. Ecclestone finally rest in peace, in the meanwhile: Will he be capable of paying a bribe to the EU ? because "With money the monkey dances""

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9. Posted by TORC, 30/09/2015 20:36

"It's hard to be sympathetic towards greed and special treatment versus actual competitive performance. Reality check: F1 is no longer a sport, it's morphed into entertainment, often egregiously bad entertainment."

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10. Posted by Jigsaw, 30/09/2015 15:02

"Seems like all cvc cares about is money. They don't care about the thousands of people whose jobs depend on F1 as long as they get their 1,000% return. Do they put money back into the sport or just reap profit? Sad day when they can't see the people through all the money. I guess F1 is just like life, It's just not fair when money rules!! "

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