Bernie Ecclestone believes this season’s new Formula One teams would not be missed if they left the sport.
Speaking to the Telegraph, the F1 rights’ holder said he suspects that “one or two” teams will drop out of Formula 1 before the end of 2010.
See Autocar's ongoing picture review of the 2010 F1 season
While singling out Lotus as a worthwhile addition to the field, he suggested the other 2010 newcomers have brought little to the sport.
He said: “The bottom line is they haven’t really and truly given us value for being there. If suddenly these teams don’t turn up at races then I don't think the crowds will get any smaller, or the TV sets will turn off, or the newspapers will stop writing, will they?”
“I would not be surprised if one or two of [the new teams] did not make the end of the season,” he added. “I think there are a couple of teams in Formula 1 who really shouldn’t be there. They are a bit out of their depth at the moment.”
Ecclestone does not feel it is essential to have 24 cars on the grid and believes a return to a 10-team field would be no problem at all for F1.
“All we ever want is 10 teams,” he said. “Lotus is a good name. I wouldn’t want to lose them. But in general this year has been a bit of a nuisance because it has cost money to keep these [struggling] teams in. It has cost a lot of money to pay for them to compete.”
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Re: Bernie: 'New teams won’t survive'
I totally agree, unfortunatly I am only 15 so I never had the honour of seeing the legend fighting it out against all the other legends, I love the way Senna just ploughed into Prost in the 1989 title to gain the world championship and the way he just risked his life to gain a few seconds. Mr Ecclestone is a very strange character from what I am getting from the news of this and past events from the end of the 2009/ start of the 2010 season, he gets what he wants then changes his mind and wants something else please make your mind up. As Autocar say Tips for the facelift it should be Tips for the 2011 season:
1. Make your mind up Mr Ecclestone, your very good at what you do
2.Get rid of downforce
3. Bring Pitstops back into play, what was the point in taking that away
4.Bring Team Orders Back, all that Ferrari rubbish was just pointless and a 100,000 euro fine is nothing to a formula 1 team let alone one that specialises in both road and racing cars, thats what 1 day of R&D
Anything else anyone has got to add that I've missed please do,
R.I.P Ayrton Senna you really were a legend
Re: Bernie: 'New teams won’t survive'
There's only one conclusion to be had from Bernie's comments; he not making enough money because it costs to keep the smaller teams in F1. Lets face it, he's only really interested in F1 now as a money making machine, as long as he's the beneficiary of course. F1 would be far better off without him and his constant stirring to cause controversy and unsettle everyone.
Re: Bernie: 'New teams won’t survive'
That's if F1 survives this current debacle!, what's needed is a root and branch revision of the whole F1 racing ethic,for instance, why have two drivers?, want more competitive racing?, lets have one driver. one car outfits,give them all the same engines supplied by the FIA , also chassis aswell,as far as bodywork goes, give them freedom to do what they like, but above all we want honesty, the good drivers will win not because their in the right car,but because they drove the best race, of course some teams will leave F1, but maybe that would be a good thing i'm getting fed up only having two teams to choose from each year, ok, four then, lets see what Uncle Bernie comes up with, eh?