Bernie Ecclestone is in the middle of a storm of rumors about the future of the F1 directorship.

FIA said in a statement that Ecclestone had failed to deliver an initial payment of $60 million last year as part of a deal to extend his Formula One broadcasting and commercial rights and had now been given six weeks to deliver the money.

"Mr Ecclestone must pay the sum by March 22 or we may decide to make other arrangements," FIA President Max Mosley said.

Ecclestone's family trust holding SLEC, which is joint owned by Germany's EMTV, holds the lucrative Formula One broadcasting and commercial rights until 2010 but agreed with FIA last year to extend them for around 100 years.

Losing the long-term rights would be extremely bad news for German media company EM.TV which already faces an uncertain future and is currently seeking to secure a rescue package based on selling part of its 50 percent holding in SLEC.

An alliance of Formula One car manufacturers has been in talks with Ecclestone about taking a stake in SLEC but the Financial Times reported on Tuesday that they might now negotiate directly with the FIA to buy the long-term rights instead.

Ecclestone, who has run Formula One for the past 30 years, has been given seven years to pay the rest of the money due on the rights, a sum FIA has refused to disclose.

FIA denied it was strong-arming Ecclestone, as the businessmann has suggested, and said it would decide its next move at a general assembly on March 22.

"There is no question of extorting money from Mr Ecclestone. We just want to make sure the family trust holds to its agreement to stand by a contract and make an initial payment of $60 million. This should have been done last July," Mosley said.

An alliance of Formula One car manufacturers has been seeking a stake in Ecclestone's SLEC holding.

Motor racing has made a fortune for 70-year-old Ecclestone, the son of a Suffolk trawlerman, who took to Grand Prix racing in the 1970s and transformed it into one of the world's most-watched sports.