Ignoring the critics who oppose his brave new world, Ecclestone does admit that the constructors' championship should remain decided by points because the standings have more wide-reaching implications than merely determining the year's champion.

"I think we should keep that as it is, awarding points for places one to eight as we do now," he conceded, "For the teams, constructor points are purely a financial matter as they determine a team's share of the annual prize fund. Fighting for a point or two really matters to the teams further down the grid and I don't see any reason to change that.

However, whether or not his plan is accepted by the World Motor Sport Council - and it has been put on hold pending further 'market research' - Ecclestone admits that last week's cost-cutting agreement hammered out by the FIA and FOTA, has an equal chance of improving the show.

"The way to keep the championship wide-open and exciting is to reduce the cost that a team needs to incur to be competitive," he accepted, "I am very pleased that the teams have now seen sense on this issue and agreed meaningful proposals to cut their expenditure, as Max [Mosley] and I have been urging for some time now. I think they've all had a wake up call and have realised that their present levels of expenditure are simply not sustainable. What is more, the racing should get much closer too."