Mar.18 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has brushed aside the criticism of F1's new voluntary budget cap for 2010.
The FOTA team alliance has denounced the scheme, unveiled by the governing FIA this week, as potentially risking "the very essence" of the sport.But F1's chief executive insists the negativity is nothing new."Any time we make any changes, there are a whole bunch of people who say forget it, it won't happen," the Briton is quoted as saying by PA Sport."When we had two-race engines, everyone said you can't do it because the teams won't finish races."Everything that is proposed, the teams always say forget it -- it is just par for the course," Ecclestone added.The 78-year-old even suggests that the FIA reforms have not gone far enough, but said more discussions would first need to take place."In the end the truth of the matter is we should just have a cap for everybody, although maybe 30 million is a bit too low," he said.Ecclestone supports the scheme because it is likely to guarantee a fuller grid without having to revert to fielding GP2 cars that would be "lapped 3 times", he said in an interview with the BBC."Perhaps we can gain some people (teams)," he said."I want to see pre-qualifying again. I want 26 people on the grid, of which 16 are competitive."
’)