Bernie Ecclestone wants input from fans on F1's future

Ecclestone has repeated his belief in the need for an overhaul of F1, in particular given his dislike of the current engines, with two manufacturers in Mercedes and Ferrari emerging as dominant forces.

In a joint interview with former FIA president Max Mosley on German television station ZDF, Ecclestone said he wants to "tear the rule book up, get a few competent people together and rewrite the Formula 1 regulations".

Ecclestone said: "We mustn't forget we're in the entertainment business, so we ought to have rules the public want.

"We should be asking the public 'What do you not like about Formula 1 today?' and 'What did you like about Formula 1 before?'

"People will say 'Ecclestone you're getting too old. The young kids today are a bit different', so we have to have a complete rethink.

"With these rules, it's like an old Victorian house, where people keep doing things to it, it needs pulling down and restarting again.

"You can't cross this line out, put that in place of that. It's not what you want."

TOO MUCH ENGINEER POWER

Part of Ecclestone's concern is the fact technology is now detracting from the show, and the drivers no longer have such a considerable input in driving the cars.

Only recently clutch starts were placed back in the hands of the drivers, with the control taken away from the pitwall.

After citing Alain Prost as F1's best driver, Ecclestone added: "The drivers sit there on the starting grid and there is an engineer that starts the race. It's just not on.

"It should be when the lights go off they are on their own. They don't need somebody telling them their co-driver is doing this through that corner, or whatever.

"It's an engineers' championship. I'm not saying Lewis [Hamilton] isn't a super driver, but he is getting a hell of a lot of help.

"I'd like to see him in a GP2 car with the GP2 drivers. I'm not saying he wouldn't win, but it would be interesting."

Mosley concurred as he said: "It's supposed to be a double competition - men and machines.

"But if the engineering competition starts to take over from the human competition, F1 in my opinion loses an essential element."