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Top teams must make sacrifices to save F1 - Ecclestone
Bernie Ecclestone has admitted he is not capable of solving Formula One's financial problems without the biggest teams making sacrifices for the good of the sport.
Following the collapse of Marussia and Caterham in the last two weeks, F1 arrived in Austin for the US Grand Prix in a state of turmoil. Force India is among other cash-strapped teams threatening to boycott this weekend's race, while larger teams remain unwilling to suddenly cut expenditure and the jobs that would go with it.
At the centre of the spat is the distribution of prize money, which is heavily weighted towards the most successful teams and those with a long history in the sport. On top of that the F1 Strategy Group was set up this year to make decisions about the future of the sport but only includes Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Lotus, meaning Force India, Sauber, Marussia, Caterham and Toro Rosso do not have representation.
The politics came to a head in Austin and Ecclestone admits there is no easy answer within the contracts he has negotiated with the teams.
"We have to decide the best way to sort this whole thing out," Ecclestone said. "Frankly, I know what's wrong but don't know how to fix it.
"No one is prepared to do anything about it because they can't. The regulations have tied us up. If we were in a position where we could help these teams in trouble, we would do it. But we are not allowed to. They say if you give this team $10,000, everyone has to have $10,000. The trouble with lots of regulations and lots of contracts is that we don't think long-term.
"It makes no difference to me how the money is shared out. If they sat down here with me now and said they want to share out all of the money we get in a different way, I would say, 'Good, give me the bit of paper'."
Ecclestone takes some of the blame as he negotiated the contracts that favour the bigger teams financially.
"The problem is there is too much money probably being distributed badly - probably my fault. But like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time."
But CVC Capital has a controlling stake in the sport's commercial rights and as an employee Ecclestone admits he has had to negotiate on their behalf rather than for the good of the sport.
"If the company belonged to me I would have done things in a different way because it would have been my money I was dealing with. I work for people who are in the business to make money."
Ecclestone said he would be willing to cancel the current contracts and start again.
"I would tear all the contracts up. Take all the money, pay all the teams' debts that should be paid so people haven't suffered because of Formula One. And people haven't got credit for Formula One. And then say this is what you are going to get next year, this is the amount of money we've got and this is what is going to happen from now on in. It's percentages."
He added that a solution would be possible if the top teams are willing to make sacrifices.
"I think the situation is such that if enough people want it resolved, we can resolve it. It's a case of the people that are involved in the sport will have to want to look after the sport and prepared to make some sacrifices."
If the top team's sacrificed some prize money, Ecclestone said he would even be willing to match the amount in order to keep the smaller outfits afloat.
"I said to people getting a chunk of money that I would like to take a percentage of their performance related payment, put that money together to divide among three or four we know are in trouble but are not going to run away with the money and then I will put in the same amount of money.
"We have to open the eyes of those people in a position to turn the lights on and off to what they need to do because I wouldn't want to be in a position where I was too strong and Formula One disappears and someone says it is because of you it disappeared."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
