Ecclestone undecided on title favourite

Although Hamilton has led the points standing for much of the season, Ecclestone thinks that it is Alonso who should come out on top at the end of the campaign.

"I don't know - it's difficult to know," Ecclestone told The Times about his tip for the championship. "I suppose you would have to say Alonso is favourite because of his experience.

"But the way the other guy [Hamilton] is performing - if you took his hat off and put bloody Schumacher's hat on, you'd say Schumacher was driving, wouldn't you?"

Despite his backing of Alonso, Ecclestone has said he hopes that McLaren hit trouble to get Ferrari more back in the hunt for the championship.

"I'd like to see both the McLaren cars stop and Ferrari get some points and have four runners up there [in contention]. You'd have to put your money on McLaren, but you never know."

Ecclestone does not think that team orders in the title fight will come into play until any of the championship contenders are mathematically out of the chose.

"If one of them obviously gets into a position where the other one can't really catch them and he needs a bit of help, maybe that's what will happen," Ecclestone said.

"If you and I are in the same team against each other, as long as we are still competing we are probably going to be a little bit edgy with each other. But I think when you are obviously clear in front and I can't do anything about it, then I obviously want to help you. So that's when you'll see the test."

And ahead of the FIA Court of Appeal hearing into the F1 spy scandal, Ecclestone has said he doubts McLaren will face any punishment.

"Unless something new comes up, there's not an awful lot one can do because you've got to catch the guy with the shooter in his hands, pulling the trigger," he said.

"They [McLaren] can still be in trouble under the different sections in the rules where they should be in control of what goes on in the company, which is obvious - they could be in trouble there.

"But the big thing is, people would have to show that they were involved in the theft and they were using the material - that's where they would be in big trouble."