Ecclestone sceptical about new teams

Start-up squads US F1, Virgin, Lotus and Campos Meta have all secured entries for this year's world championship, but there have been a string of rumours about the health of the new projects. The bosses of US F1 and Campos both recently denied that their F1 programmes were in jeopardy, although Campos admits that it needs to secure further investment.

Speaking at the Wrooom media event in Italy, Ecclestone said he was concerned that not only would some of the newcomers fail to complete the 2010 season, but they might not appear for the opener in Bahrain at all.

"I think they're going to have trouble actually getting to the first race, so now we have to wait and see," he said.

"Obviously when you speak to these people they say everything's fine and there's no drama. But I'm sure there is drama."

The F1 commercial chief suggested that the requirement to run two self-designed cars was a key stumbling block for new entrants, and said he was keen on customer chassis and the option for single car entries.

"I honestly believe that one or two of these new teams that are now coming in will be much better off running one car which is supplied by any of the other teams," said Ecclestone.

He believes the global economic situation is to blame for the new teams' difficulties.

"There's one small problem: finance," Ecclestone said. "It's difficult for these teams, even with the budgets becoming more realistic, to raise that sort of money.

"You've probably heard about it, but we've got a bit of a financial crisis in the world, so there's not quite as many sponsors floating around as there were."

But Ecclestone insisted it would not be a blow for F1 if the planned 13-team field failed to materialise.

"We're okay - as long as we've got ten solid, strong teams that's all we really need," he said.