Ron Dennis says F1 racing will not disappoint during 2014 season

Ahead of the F1 season-opener in Australia Dennis has urged fans and media to not immediately be critical if the first few races become chaotic because of poor reliability.

He is adamant that once teams get an understanding of the new efficiency regulations then it will produce some spectacular strategic battles.

"F1 has such an audience and all we have to make sure is that there is a good race," he said. "The ingredients can change.

"I predict a tortoise and hare season. I think that for two reasons - one is reliability as cars will fail close to the end in the initial phases and two because of fuel consumption and tyre wear.

"I think these races are going to be initially high attrition, possibly one or two races of dominance in the beginning.

"But I think you will see when things stabilise you will see some great tortoise and hare racing. I might be wrong but that is my prediction."

He added: "And don't be too hasty to jump on what will be the initial short-term growing pains when there are some complex new regulations.

"We will come to grips with them and I think the racing will be pretty interesting."

FUTURE OF F1 IS SAFE

Although F1 faces some off-track issues in 2014 - particularly with uncertainty about Bernie Ecclestone's future ahead of his court trial in Germany - Dennis says he is not worried about the running of F1 longer term.

"No one is immortal, so either through the fact that Bernie is mortal or not - the reality is that there is always going to be a time when Bernie is not going to be here to run F1," said Dennis.

"There is nothing more certain than things will change, for one reason or another...

"Will F1 survive in the form it is in? Well, first of all, it will change its form. But will it survive? 100 per cent."