Ecclestone Criticises Teams, Carmakers
Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has criticised carmakers for trying to change the sport and teams for wanting more say in how it is run.
Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has criticised carmakers for trying to change the sport and teams for wanting more say in how it is run.
"The carmakers should not get involved in Formula One too much," Ecclestone said of plans by five leading European manufacturers to plan a new series for 2008.
"Their executives are only interested in winning," the Briton said in an interview with German weekly Sport Bild to be published on Wednesday. "If they don't, they lose interest at some stage."
The carmakers - Ford, BMW, Renault, Ferrari's parent Fiat and DaimlerChrysler - want teams to have a greater slice of the sport's revenues and have set up their own GPWC company to pave the way for their own championship.
Team boss Frank Williams said at the last race at Imola that he believed a deal would be done to prevent a damaging future split in the sport. The existing 'Concorde Agreement' between teams, Ecclestone and governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) runs until the end of 2007.
Ecclestone said he felt it was wrong for the teams to ask for more influence in decision making.
"They are only concerned about what advantages they could have for the next race," he said. "They never think about the next season and they never think about the sport. The teams now want more democracy. In my opinion it cannot work. As far as Formula One goes, I believe in dictatorship."
Ecclestone repeated his criticism of the new single-lap qualifying format and predicted that Ferrari's Michael Schumacher would win a record sixth title.
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