Leave the Regulations Alone, Dennis Tells Ecclestone

McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has warned Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone not to mess with the current format of Grand Prix racing because any change will only put Ferrari further in front.

Last Sunday's United States Grand Prix saw Ferrari cruise to their fourth consecutive one-two finish with such ease that Michael Schumacher tried to stage a dead-heat finish and handed teammate Rubens Barrichello the victory.

There have been calls to introduce changes to bring the Italian giants back into the pack and Ecclestone revealed on Sunday that discussions have taken place between teams to change the rules and help the rest of the field catch up.

But Dennis, whose McLaren-Mercedes team were dominant in the late 1980s, has pleaded with Ecclestone to ditch any thoughts of change and allow them to catch up on their own.

"Leave the regulations alone and we will catch up and hopefully surpass the performance of Ferrari," Dennis told Atlas F1. "If you change the rules you are opening the envelope again and that will make it more difficult not less difficult to arrive at a point of having competitive racing."

Dennis confirmed that there have been discussions in the paddock throughout the year as team owners and the sport's officials mused over solutions to the problem. But he criticised Ecclestone for revealing the ideas too early when the sport's ringmaster went public in an interview with ITV.

"I am a little surprised that he chooses to share it with the world in a semi conceived form," said Dennis. "Some of the ideas are his thoughts, some of them are the teams' thoughts and some have come from the FIA. There is a blend.

"I think some of the changes that are proposed have some merit and need to be considered but the most important thing we need to have above all else is competitive motor racing."

Ferrari have won four consecutive manufacturers' titles while Schumacher completed his hat-trick of championships with Ferrari at the French Grand Prix more than two months ago. Their dominance has been impressive but it has left the sport with falling television audiences and tumbling crowd figures. Dennis, however, believes any regulations aimed at crippling Ferrari will not work.

"History shows that," he said. "A concept that hamstrings Ferrari to provide bigger opportunity to those teams that aren't as competitive as they would like to be at the moment is definitely a flawed concept.

"If one team has a starting point that is higher than the others then they can accommodate change because they are moving from a baseline. Teams coming from behind have to make the ground up plus a bit more. The best way to do that is to give technical stability to the teams so that Ferrari is operating at a level within the envelope close to the limit and Williams and ourselves have to catch them up.

"If you think of it as Everest, you can't get higher than the top from a technical standpoint so inevitably more people are going to develop the expertise to get to the top of Everest."