Ecclestone not worried Ferrari will quit

Anyone with any common sense knows this controversy over budget caps in F1 is created to keep F1 in the media (free PR) and will all disappear like all the other F1 controversies disappear when the time is right.

(GMM) Ferrari's executive board is meeting on Tuesday to discuss formula one, but Bernie Ecclestone is not worried the Italian team is planning to call time on its long association with the sport.

The meeting comes amid other teams' 2010 entry boycott threats, and Ferrari and FOTA president Luca di Montezemolo's fierce spat with Max Mosley over planned budget caps.

But Ecclestone, 78, told London's Times newspaper: "Ferrari are not stupid. They don't want to leave formula one and we don't want to lose them, so we'll get to grips with it."

He suggested that the main gripe is with the 'two-tier' element of the FIA's proposed rules for 2010, but that the prospects of that are "slowly disappearing".

Ecclestone also revealed that the teams are uneasy about external auditors probing the teams' accounts to police the cap, but the Briton said the teams will be allowed to oversee their expenditure themselves.