Bernie promises more money

Following the announcement that Ferrari has agreed terms to a newer version of the Concorde Agreement, the document by which F1 is run, which will keep it in the sport until the end of 2012, Ecclestone confirmed the more generous terms on offer.

"The parts of the Concorde Agreement they were concerned with will be dealt with and they are going to get more money," he told the BBC. "The other teams had not signed yet, but that they were aware of the new terms."

It is understood that Ecclestone's revised financial terms could be worth more than £250 million to the teams over the next three years - a factor that will further hamper the chances of the breakaway GPWC championship attracting outfits for its planned series that is due to start no later than 2008.

Ecclestone confirmed that teams other than Ferrari were generally supportive of the package on offer, even though none had signed up yet.

"The people I have spoken to are happy - about four or five of them," he said. "At the moment, when I've spoken to them on the phone, the answer was: 'It's positive.' Having thought about everything and seen whether they can do better or worse, that's how it is."