Ecclestone denies ‘crap’ comment

Bernie Ecclestone has denied saying F1 is 'crap' but admits changes need to be made.

The F1 supremo was recently quoted by AFP as saying "they have given me a crap product to sell."

Asked about that comment ahead of Sunday's Austrian GP, he denied saying it.

"Really?" he said. "I don't know who said that. Bad quote."

He does, however, concede F1 needs to improve the show as there are too many pointless regulations with too many negative consquences.

"I think we need to have a very, very good look at all our sporting regulations," he explained.

"Don't go over the white line, don't do this, don't do that, If you change your engine you go back 20 places.

"It's not what the public understand. They (the fans) don't understand and when they do understand they don't care basically."

But while many have criticised the sport in recent days, Lewis Hamilton defended it.

According to the Brit, he loves driving the cars and he remains "massively challenged" on a grand prix Sunday.

But, as Ecclestone put it, the winners will also voice their approval while the losers will do the criticising.

He added: "The product which we produce at the moment is a bit top heavy with one team winning a lot of races.

"So when Ferrari are getting their act together we've seen a big improvement and exactly the same thing happens with McLaren.

"There's people always complaining about something. The winners never complain. The losers complain. All I've ever said is that it's a pity that one team is at the moment dominating the sport.

"I don't think they are getting criticised for winning. I think people are saying it's a pity, that's all. Nothing wrong with what Mercedes have done, they've done an incredible job.

"Both the drivers are doing a super job, no complaints. The problem is not the people who are winning, it's the people who are not competing with them."