By Nikki Reynolds, F1 Editor - Motorsport.com

There have been a few changes to Formula One with the aim of reducing
financial overheads but Bernie Ecclestone wants to see more cost-cutting.
Ecclestone believes something must be done to not only help the smaller
teams, but also to prevent any manufacturers that partner top teams deciding
they have spent too much money and quit the sport.

"We've got to reduce the costs dramatically, for the survival of Formula
One," Ecclestone told Australian media. "If we don't reduce the costs
dramatically, the people that are currently at the top in Formula One -- and
spending all the money -- may say 'listen, we've spent enough and we're
leaving'."

Ecclestone believes the current situation with some teams being dominant at
the top is the usual situation and the only way to stop that continuing is
to find a way for small teams to catch up.

"I have been around Formula One for a long time now, and there have never
been more than three or four really competitive teams in any one year, so
it's about normal. We've got now, I think, four very, very strong teams."

"Could we change that? The only way you will ever change it is to find a way
to drastically reduce the costs in order that the people at the back end of
the grid can catch up. At the moment, the amount that the teams spend is so
vastly different that it wouldn't be possible for someone that's got a
budget like the Jordans of this world to ever, ever be able to compete with
McLaren."

One theory Ecclestone has is that it would be easier to bring the top teams
down to the financial level of the lesser ones, as it's unlikely
back-of-the-grid teams could ever compete with the front runners where money
is concerned. The big teams will spend as much as much as they can in order
to win and the small teams simply can't match that kind of budget.

A reduction in engine power is Ecclestone's solution: "These guys, the top
teams, are in excess of 900 horsepower now -- but does anybody need 900
horsepower? The answer is no," was his opinion.

"The TV audience hasn't changed from when we had 700 horsepower. So, the
obvious thing to do is to reduce the power, but how would you do that and
keep all the technology that we currently have? Chop away a few litres, I
suppose."

"People have been talking about this now for two or three years, but I think
now we've got a single engine (per race weekend), and possibly we are going
to have Max (Mosley) wanting to go to three races with one engine. I'm not
so sure I go along with that but, maybe, now is the time to have a change
and see what power 2.5 litres can produce and whether they get the job done.
I don't think the public care."








http://www.motorsport.com -- your source for motorsport news on the Internet



--- FIDOGATE 4.4.9