Bernie Ecclestone has urged Formula One's teams to start making sacrifices in a bid to save the sport from completely imploding. Ecclestone's words of warning come at the end of a miserable period for F1, notably with Caterham and Marussia entering administration. With costs spiralling out of control, and with the FIA powerless to act, three other cash-strapped teams in Lotus, Force India and Sauber have threatened to boycott the United States Grand Prix as a protest at what they perceive as a lack of action to stop the folly. Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says he is to blame for problems afflicting some of the smaller teams . Ecclestone, however, has dismissed that prospect out of hand. 'Forget all that c**p,' the F1 chief said. 'I promise they will be racing. 'They will be racing, I give you a guarantee - but I worry if they will be racing next year.' Therein lies Ecclestone's major problem - one which has surprisingly led him to concede that 'I know what's wrong, but don't know how to fix it'. Ecclestone added: 'No-one is prepared to do anything about it because they can't. The regulations have tied us up. 'If we were in a position where we could help these teams in trouble, we would do it. But we are not allowed to. Lotus are one of three teams who have threatened to boycott the United States Grand Prix . 'If one team is given 10,000 (US dollars), everyone has to have 10,000. The trouble with lots of regulations and lots of contracts is we don't think long term.' Part of the problem is the contracts Ecclestone has negotiated over the years with the teams, which includes the distribution of revenues. The smaller marques are dismayed at how the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes overwhelmingly receive the lion's share of the £900 million handed out. Ecclestone added: 'It makes no difference to me how the money is shared out. 'If they sat down here with me now and said they want to share out all of the money they get in a different way, I would say, 'Good, give me the bit of paper'. 'The problem is there is too much money being distributed badly - probably my fault - but, like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time.' Another issue Ecclestone faces is the teams now have too much say in the regulations, and, given so many vested interests, there is a lack of agreement. British-based Sauber are fuming at not having a say in the running of the sport . Ecclestone has a solution, but knows what the outcome would be. 'I would say to people getting a chunk of money that I would like to take a percentage of their performance-related payment,' Ecclestone said. 'I would put that money together to divide among the three or four we know are in trouble, and then I would put in the same amount of money. 'But there would not be one team that would think it was a bloody good idea. 'In the old days, the people sitting around a table would be the guys who could say yes or no. They would ask me to sort it out and it would be sorted. 'But none of the modern guys can agree anything, even if they wanted to. They all have to report back to somebody.' Although Ecclestone is effectively known as the commercial rights holder, it is private equity firm CVC Capital Partners which runs the sport - much to the apparent dismay of the teams. With Ecclestone no longer the man in overall charge, he said: 'If the company belonged to me, I would have done things in a different way. Smaller teams like Force India are struggling to make ends meet . 'That's because it would have been my money I was dealing with, but I work for people who are in the business to make money.' Another option for Ecclestone is to 'tear up all the contracts'. He added: 'I'd take all the money, pay all the teams' debts that should be paid so people haven't suffered because of Formula One, and people haven't got credit for Formula One. 'I'd then say this is what you are going to get next year, this is the amount of money we've got, and this is what is going to happen from now on in. It's percentages.' The bottom line for Ecclestone is the big teams have to yield. 'It's not the biggest crisis I've dealt with, but I'm not happy,' he said. 'It's just you are talking about larger amounts of money, so therefore it is more difficult to solve. 'We'll have to do something about it because we can't all sit back nicely, relaxed and think the problem will go away. 'It's not like having the flu and taking a few tablets and it will disappear. 'The situation is such that if enough people want it resolved, we can resolve it. 'It's a case that the people involved in the sport will have to want to look after the sport and be prepared to make some sacrifices.'
Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes receive lion's share of the £900million handed out .
The FIA powerless to act despite costs spiralling out of control .
Cash-strapped Lotus, Force India and Sauber have threatened to boycott the United States Grand Prix .
Bernie Ecclestone has urged Formula One's teams to start making sacrifices in a bid to save the sport from completely imploding. Ecclestone's words of warning come at the end of a miserable period for F1, notably with Caterham and Marussia entering administration. With costs spiralling out of control, and with the FIA powerless to act, three other cash-strapped teams in Lotus, Force India and Sauber have threatened to boycott the United States Grand Prix as a protest at what they perceive as a lack of action to stop the folly. Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says he is to blame for problems afflicting some of the smaller teams . Ecclestone, however, has dismissed that prospect out of hand. 'Forget all that c**p,' the F1 chief said. 'I promise they will be racing. 'They will be racing, I give you a guarantee - but I worry if they will be racing next year.' Therein lies Ecclestone's major problem - one which has surprisingly led him to concede that 'I know what's wrong, but don't know how to fix it'. Ecclestone added: 'No-one is prepared to do anything about it because they can't. The regulations have tied us up. 'If we were in a position where we could help these teams in trouble, we would do it. But we are not allowed to. Lotus are one of three teams who have threatened to boycott the United States Grand Prix . 'If one team is given 10,000 (US dollars), everyone has to have 10,000. The trouble with lots of regulations and lots of contracts is we don't think long term.' Part of the problem is the contracts Ecclestone has negotiated over the years with the teams, which includes the distribution of revenues. The smaller marques are dismayed at how the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes overwhelmingly receive the lion's share of the £900 million handed out. Ecclestone added: 'It makes no difference to me how the money is shared out. 'If they sat down here with me now and said they want to share out all of the money they get in a different way, I would say, 'Good, give me the bit of paper'. 'The problem is there is too much money being distributed badly - probably my fault - but, like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time.' Another issue Ecclestone faces is the teams now have too much say in the regulations, and, given so many vested interests, there is a lack of agreement. British-based Sauber are fuming at not having a say in the running of the sport . Ecclestone has a solution, but knows what the outcome would be. 'I would say to people getting a chunk of money that I would like to take a percentage of their performance-related payment,' Ecclestone said. 'I would put that money together to divide among the three or four we know are in trouble, and then I would put in the same amount of money. 'But there would not be one team that would think it was a bloody good idea. 'In the old days, the people sitting around a table would be the guys who could say yes or no. They would ask me to sort it out and it would be sorted. 'But none of the modern guys can agree anything, even if they wanted to. They all have to report back to somebody.' Although Ecclestone is effectively known as the commercial rights holder, it is private equity firm CVC Capital Partners which runs the sport - much to the apparent dismay of the teams. With Ecclestone no longer the man in overall charge, he said: 'If the company belonged to me, I would have done things in a different way. Smaller teams like Force India are struggling to make ends meet . 'That's because it would have been my money I was dealing with, but I work for people who are in the business to make money.' Another option for Ecclestone is to 'tear up all the contracts'. He added: 'I'd take all the money, pay all the teams' debts that should be paid so people haven't suffered because of Formula One, and people haven't got credit for Formula One. 'I'd then say this is what you are going to get next year, this is the amount of money we've got, and this is what is going to happen from now on in. It's percentages.' The bottom line for Ecclestone is the big teams have to yield. 'It's not the biggest crisis I've dealt with, but I'm not happy,' he said. 'It's just you are talking about larger amounts of money, so therefore it is more difficult to solve. 'We'll have to do something about it because we can't all sit back nicely, relaxed and think the problem will go away. 'It's not like having the flu and taking a few tablets and it will disappear. 'The situation is such that if enough people want it resolved, we can resolve it. 'It's a case that the people involved in the sport will have to want to look after the sport and be prepared to make some sacrifices.'
out of control, and with the FIA powerless to Force India and Sauber have threatened to boycott threatened to boycott the United States Grand dismayed at how the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes overwhelmingly receive the lion's share of the £900 million handed out.