Bernie Ecclestone has reiterated comments he made earlier in the year regarding the loss of two teams come the end of the season.
The F1 rights holder told the Daily Telegraph that he wouldn’t be surprised if the grid had shrank to just 11 teams come Abu Dhabi. However he remains tight-lipped on which two teams he believes won’t make the final checkered flag of 2010.
“I would not be surprised if one or two [teams] did not make the end of the season,” the 78-year-old said. “I think there are a couple of teams in Formula One who really shouldn’t be there. They are a bit out of their depth at the moment.”
Talking about the new teams; Lotus, Virgin and Hispania, Ecclestone described having them on the grid as a ‘nuisance’ because it was costing him money to have them there.
“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.
“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?”
The Billionaire then moved to quash rumours Renault were in financial difficulties after the team asked Ecclestone for advance payments of its television royalties.
“All that was, was the fact that one of the shareholders didn’t want to take money from another one of his companies because that would have meant convening a board meeting,” he added. “I never gave them the money. And they got over the crisis so everything is fine.”
Discussion about this post