Ecclestone rallies all teams to end row

Ecclestone held discussions with the team principals following their meeting on Saturday morning at Sepang to make it clear that he wanted to sort out the situation before it continued to overshadow this season.

The Formula One supremo also expressed his frustration at the indifference of some over the affair - and made it clear that this is an issue for all 11 teams on the grid and not just Super Aguri, Toro Rosso and their partner outfits.

And to clarify just how the situation could affect all teams on the grid, Ecclestone put forward the idea of revamping the criteria by which teams are eligible to score constructors' championship points if a solution was not found soon.

Currently every team entered in the championship is entitled to score points, which has angered Spyker and Williams - who feel that they could lose out to those teams not building their own cars.

Ecclestone instead suggested that those outfits running customer cars would not score points for themselves but rather for their main factory partners.

Under such a formula, Super Aguri would score points for Honda Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso would score points for Red Bull Racing. The main teams would then have to share their revenues from television rights with their customer car teams.

Although such a solution would clearly delight the Spyker team - because it would remove two rivals in the fight for positions - teams further up the grid felt it would be grossly unfair for Honda and Red Bull Racing to start scoring points with four cars.

That dissatisfaction proved Ecclestone's point that the customer car row involved all 11 teams, and he has made it clear to the team bosses that he wants them all to help find an answer by next weekend.

Spyker sources have indicated that if a settlement can be reached in Bahrain then they will drop the arbitration action that has been lodged against Super Aguri and Scuderia Toro Rosso.