Ecclestone wants complete new start to F1 rules

Bernie Ecclestone has called upon the FIA to throw away the current Formula One rule book and technical regulations, and start again from scratch.

The commercial rights holder told German broadcaster ZDF that it was time to rip up the current regulations rather than keep on papering over the cracks.

"I sit on the Strategy Group and I would like to know what the changes are going to be. They are like all the other rules - like an old Victorian house, people keep doing things to it - but it needs pulling down and starting again," he said this weekend in a lengthy English-language interview.

"People will say, 'Ecclestone you're getting too old. The young kids today are a bit different,' so we have to have a complete rethink.

"You cannot cross the line and add that, put this in place of that. We need to rip it up and start again," he insisted. "Tear the rule book up. Get a few competent people together and say 'let's rewrite Formula One regulations.'"

Ecclestone said that the biggest problem with Formula One today was that it had become too much of an engineer's championship, and the drivers were being sidelined by the technology.

"They sit there on the starting grid and there is an engineer that starts the race. It is not on. When the lights go off they should be on their own. It is an engineer's championship."

For that reason, Ecclestone said that as far as he was concerned the greatest driver in Formula One had been four-time world champion Alain Prost.

"Prost had to look after his brakes, his gearbox, everything. He did a good job so he finished more races and he finished in a better position.

"We are not saying that Lewis is not a super driver but he is given a hell of a lot of help [by the technology]," he said.

"I'd like to see him in a GP2 car with GP2 drivers. I am not saying he wouldn't win but it would be interesting."

The last aside from Ecclestone seems a curious one given that Hamilton did indeed race in the GP2 Series - and duly won the championship in its second year in 2006, with five victories along the way. It was the manner in which he raced to the title that persuaded Ron Dennis to take a risk on the youngster and put him straight into a McLaren in 2007 alongside two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Moving on, Ecclestone added that he wanted fan input to get the sport sorted out once and for all and made fit for purpose again.

"We mustn't forget we're in the entertainment business, so we ought to have rules the public want. We should be asking the public, 'What do you not like about Formula 1 today?' and, 'What did you like about Formula 1 before?'"

We are in show business - Ecclestone

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