Ecclestone insists Formula 1 can't live without Ferrari

Former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has claimed that the motorsport can't afford to live without Ferrari as the Prancing Horse continues to threaten to leave the sport due to proposed changes by the Amercian owners of F1, Liberty Media.

Liberty Media have been the owners of F1 for around a year now and have already started to implement controversial changes to the sport including the standardisation of engine parts and the limit of three engines per season.

Ferrari have been the biggest critic of these changes and Sergio Marchionne has even threatened to pull the Scuderia out of the sport altogether if compromises are not made. Ecclestone has insisted that F1 could not live without the Prancing Horse.

"I would have scrapped this (current) engine. It was a disaster from the date on which it was introduced. But two years ago I told the teams they could keep the damn engine if they increase the fuel flow and the fuel load," Ecclestone said.

"You didn't have to take Luca di Montezemolo [the former chairman of Ferrari] seriously, because motorsport was his life," he continued in regards to previous quit threats from Ferrari.

"But Sergio [Marchionne] can live without F1. He is only interested in the business. If Marchionne doesn't like what he sees, he will stop. I'm afraid that Ferrari can live without formula one, but not vice versa."

In his annual Christmas card, Ecclestone criticised aspects of Liberty Media's ownership, but claimed he was not 'bitter' about not being in charge anymore, even saying he no longer frequents Grand Prix races.

"I have the feeling that my successors do not want to see me at the track anymore. On the contrary. I'm proud of Formula 1and I want it to be good,"

Ecclestone did, however, reserve praise for Liberty's efforts to increase television and spectator figures.

"The Ferrari against Mercedes duel mobilised the fans," he said. "I actually apologised to the promoters, because they paid for the old formula one and all they got was Mercedes winning. Now, they're getting value for money again."