Ecclestone will not have F1 row destroy his work

Jun 22, 2009, 8:36 GMT

London - Bernie Ecclestone will not let the bitter feud between eight teams and the world governing body FIA destroy his decades of work in Formula One.

'I have given 35 years of my life and more to Formula One. My marriage broke up because of Formula One, so I am sure as hell not going to let things disintegrate over what is, in the end, basically nothing,' Ecclestone told Monday's edition of The Times daily.

Ecclestone, 73, is responsible for the commercial side of the sport and has generated millions from marketing and television.

Now his work is under threat as eight teams organized in the umbrella body FOTA are planning a breakaway series.

The dispute arose over a budget cap the FIA and its president Max Mosley set up for 2010, but now the teams appear firmly set to aim at Mosley's removal atop the FIA before a compromise can be reached.

'According to a senior FOTA source, the teams' overriding priority is to rid themselves of Mosley's autocratic style of governance,' another paper, The Guardian, said on Monday.

'Widely resented, it finally became intolerable to the bulk of participants in Formula One when he attempted to impose a swath of radical rule changes, in particular a budget cap to take effect next season.'

Ecclestone said he is not siding with any party in the row, after suggestions on the weekend at the British Grand Prix that he was on the FOTA side.

Mosley reportedly withdrew a FIA threat to take legal action against Ferrari and the other FOTA teams.

Ecclestone said he hopes that a compromise can be reached and that F1 racing in 2010 will see the same teams as this year.

'If you analyse the problems, there aren't any that can't be easily solved,' Ecclestone said.