Ecclestone Questions Ferrari

On the back of a letter written on behalf of rival teams having been sent to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo calling on the Italian outfit to cut back on their unilateral testing stance, Ecclestone has now backed the campaign of the so-called 'Group of Nine' to cut back on costs.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, Ecclestone said: "The stupid thing is that the teams spend a fortune on testing, a real fortune. We shouldn't have the necessity in this sport to spend money to be competitive.

"That is what we are trying to cut down on. And Ferrari are doing the opposite."

The argument over testing has become the focus for the battle between Ferrari and their rivals - with Sauber finding themselves in an increasingly difficult position of not wishing to criticise the company that supplies its customer engines and deciding not to sign recent public statements.

Ferrari have shown little signs of wishing to back down over the testing issue, however, and has maintained the stance that they believe their decision to cut back on mileage and staffing at tests has in fact reduced costs - something they believe a day limit on testing does not achieve.