Ecclestone confident of solution to FOTA problem

Bernie Ecclestone on Saturday proposed that Formula One teams should be allowed to carry on spending, provided they sign up to the FIA championship for at least the next five years.

"We'll do our best to fix it," the 78-year-old commercial rights holder of F1 said.

"We have us, the federation and the teams, and that's the way it should stay. In the end people will have enough sense not to bust this business up. It's difficult for people to understand what it all started with, that he (FIA boss Max Mosley) wanted to find ways of saving money for the teams so they didn't go out of business.

There seems to be some objection to that. They say 'nobody should tell us how to spend our money. We know what to do'. I say providing they commit to the championship for at least five years, they should spend what they like." Mosley, meanwhile, is to stand for a fifth term in office later this year to see the FIA through the current crisis.