Ferrari Dominance Hurting F1, Says Renault Boss

Patrick Faure, president of Renault Sport, has predicted that Formula One's sporting rules will be revised in a near future to make racing more exciting, but the Frenchman said he was against the introduction of a proposed rule to allow three cars per team at each Grand Prix.

Figures of the television audiences from some of this season's races have shown less people are watching the sport this year, when World Champion Michael Schumacher clinched the title in a record time and his Ferrari team have scored 11 wins out of 13 races.

Faure believes the Italian team's dominance is the reason people are losing interest in Formula One and he thinks the rules will have to be revised in order to bring back some of the excitement missing at the moment.

However, at the same time, the Renault boss admitted that Ferrari's superiority is just a part of the sport.

"On the sporting level, something will change in 2004-2005," Faure told AFP news agency. "On the economic level too, with the entry of new sponsors. Anyway, the third car isn't a good idea: it's better to have ten teams with two cars rather than seven with three.

"The rules must be reviewed. In Formula One we are experiencing absolute dominance by Ferrari, which causes a lessened interest by the people who are not so enthusiastic about the sport.

"There was dominance by Williams-Renault in 1992 and 1993, then by Benetton, and later again by Williams-Renault and McLaren-Mercedes for two years. Now it's been Ferrari for three years. These are the laws of the sport."