Is Ecclestone's grip on F1 slipping?

Bernie Ecclestone's astonishing confession that he was to blame for Formula 1's cost crisis may have been remarkable for the wider world, but the teams at the centre of its financial woes had heard it all before.

Lotus owner Gerard Lopez said that such an admission had already been forthcoming from Ecclestone in Strategy Group meetings and team boss gatherings.

Without any actual action - or even an idea of how to solve the problem - it ultimately didn't matter just how public Ecclestone went with his mea culpa.

But what was a game-changer for F1's smaller teams was the early warning they had privately from Ecclestone - all the way back at the Russian Grand Prix - that Marussia was not going to make the next race in the United States. That really got the alarm bells ringing.

The history books are full of stories of teams in trouble being given a helping hand by Ecclestone - and maybe some advance payments to help keep them afloat so they can sort out their affairs behind closed doors without the bad news getting out.

That it didn't happen this time, and that Ecclestone had let Marussia and Caterham fall away so close to the end of the season sent the small teams into panic mode.

Jordan had help from Ecclestone when it needed it © LAT

It was something that former team boss Eddie Jordan, who has in his time had to take a begging bowl to Ecclestone, was particularly agitated about.

"In the past, when Jordan needed a leg up, it got it," he said. "What has happened to F1 that they cannot look after their own?

"Surely there was a mechanism in place that they could have avoided the embarrassment for Formula 1, the empty garages and empty pits with two races to go.

"Surely to heavens it was possible to give them [Marussia and Caterham] a bit of help now?"

The suspicions were that F1 owner CVC, Ecclestone and the bigger teams had a hidden agenda to drive the minnows out and create a future F1 of three-car teams.

It was against that backdrop that Lotus, Force India and Sauber arrived at Austin in absolutely no doubt that something had to be done.

That urgency ramped up early in the weekend when Ecclestone seemed unmoved by the gloomy vibe in the paddock: he talked of more teams folding, 14-car grids in 2015 - and that the biggest problem was not costs but the noise of the engines.

Patience ran out - and the smaller outfits kicked back.

They cleverly fanned the flames to prompt the media into a frenzy over a potential boycott. It was enough to force not only Ecclestone's confession - but also a private acknowledgement from him that he was aware of the problem and would do all he could to find a solution. All eyes are on how that solution is framed.

What is intriguing is not what the solution is - for that will very much depend on how seriously CVC is taking the current situation - but whether the cost crisis has offered us a glimpse of Ecclestone starting to lose his stranglehold over F1.

Lotus owner Gerard Lopez and Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn were in the thick of the cost battle at Austin © LAT

It was telling that during a lengthy briefing with the media, where he criticised the current generation of team bosses for being employees and unable to make decisions themselves, he suggested that such a set-up was the reason for the sport adopting a flawed financial model.

"If the company belonged to me I would have done things in a different way because it would have been my money I was dealing with," he said. "I work for people who are in the business to make money."

Was the failure to help tide Caterham and Marussia over until the end of the season not actually part of a conspiracy to help the bigger teams, but evidence that Ecclestone no longer has the power to do it - for it's his paymasters that write the cheques now?

The pressure is on Ecclestone to act, though, and not just talk. Lopez told me on Sunday that while a boycott was never really on the table, the time to do something serious to make a point was edging closer.

"I'm not going to say boycott but people have talked about some action," he said. "The gap between saying something and taking action when the level of frustration is this high is much narrower than it used to be."

In the jungle, the beasts prey on the sick, the wounded, the weak and the young - but never the strong. If you do not want to end up as prey, the onus is on you to do everything you can to stay strong.

It's something that offers food for thought about what is going on in F1 right now.