Mercedes domination bad for F1 - Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has lamented the dominance of Mercedes in Formula 1, suggesting curbing the Silver Arrows' success would be of benefit to them. Mercedes have won four consecutive constructors' title sin the hybrid era, with their drivers Lewis Hamilton (3) and Nico Rosberg taking drivers' honours each time.

Mercedes failed to win only eight of 61 races between 2014 and 2016, although Ferrari managed to offer more of a challenge in 2017 as Sebastian Vettel won five grands prix and Red Bull shared three victories between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

A mastery of the hybrid engine has blown Mercedes' competition out of the water, with the previously dominant Red Bull left bickering with their power unit supplier Renault as they have failed to keep pace.

Red Bull were linked with taking Mercedes engines for the 2016 season but the deal could not be done. Ecclestone believes F1 would be more entertaining if the Milton Keynes squad had taken the top-line power unit.

"I'm a big fan of Mercedes," he told Welt newspaper. "I have great respect for their performance. But they win too much.

"If they had sold or rented their engine to a top team like Red Bull, we would have better and more exciting races and maybe other world champions.

"We would not have had this total dominance, which in my opinion would have better for Mercedes as well."

Liberty Media's proposed changes to engine regulations have led to threats from Ferrari that they could quit F1.

The Scuderia have railed against plans to make engines cheaper and more uniform, but Ecclestone believes more must be done to bring the grid in line.

"Not much has changed in the technical and sporting regulations," he said. "That's surprising, because the biggest problem is that we urgently need exciting races.

"They should, or they must, achieve a certain equality of opportunity among the teams as far as the engines are concerned.

"The manufacturers must understand that it's necessary to make the sport more attractive.

"The public must not know who wins even before the race just because one or two engines are so much better."