Ecclestone: F1 is too boring

The challenge of Eau Rouge has gone, says Ecclestone

Formula One has become too predictable and needs to make fundamental rule changes to improve its competitiveness and rebuild its popularity.

That is the view of the man who runs the sport, Bernie Ecclestone, who has become worried by falling TV figures and processional racing.

"We have to shape up, we haven't got a very good act at the moment," Ecclestone said in an interview with ITV which was reported in the Guardian newspaper on Saturday.

In focus: F1's falling popularity

Ecclestone believes that F1 needs to ban electronic driver aids, reduce aerodynamic downforce and use a single tyre supplier.

He used this month's Belgian Grand Prix as an example of F1's problems and said driver aids had emasculated the challenge of what is widely regarded as the world's finest circuit.

Drivers complained at the race that Spa's most challenging corner, Eau Rouge, had become easy this year because of traction control, which stops the wheels spinning.

Schumacher dismisses Spa challenge

Ecclestone said that the one-two achieved by Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello "was reduced to a straightforward drive to the shops".

F1 has become too processional, according to Bernie Ecclestone

However, McLaren boss Ron Dennis said that Ecclestone was using his views to divert the teams away from concentrating on the issue of the ownership of F1.

Dennis said that Ecclestone was trying to keep the teams away from his talks with the German banks that have taken control of the ownership of F1 following the demise of media giant Kirch.

Kirch collapse could settle F1 row

The teams are trying to ensure that they get a share of the equity in F1 for the future.

Dennis said: "We've gone a bridge too far, as it were, to be wrong-footed like that. We will not be diverted away from looking for a sound, fair, economic solution to the future."

He did add, however, that Ferrari's domination of the sport and the subsequent fall of TV figures made these "difficult times".

Driver aids were only legalised 18 months ago after being banned in 1993 on the grounds that they took too much control away from the drivers.

But the 1990s were characterised by back-biting, controversy and claims that some teams had found a way around the rules.

For a long time the sport's governing body, the FIA, insisted that it could police electronics, contrary to the beliefs of the teams.

Eventually, after years of lobbying by the teams, the FIA gave way and they were legalised at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2001.

Aerodynamic downforce has long been a focus for those looking for a way to improve racing.

Many want to see the rules changed to dramatically restrict aerodynamics, which they say would allow cars to race closer together.

Opponents of rule changes insist that they always make racing worse.

This is because they give an advantage to the top teams, who have the resources to research the best way to deal with them.