"You can't stop people from spending the money they have," says Bernie Ecclestone, referring to the big-budget F1 teams. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Ecclestone Backs Customer Cars, Not Budget Cap: Bernie Ecclestone has revealed he does not support moves to install a budget cap in F1. "It wouldn't work," the sport's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. The big teams are also unlikely to join the cause, after Lotus and Sauber said recently a capped budget would provide a fairer playing field. Ecclestone continued: "You can't stop people from spending the money they have. They will always find a way to get around whatever you try to do to control it. Instead, the technical rules should be written so that it is not possible to just use money to make a faster car," he insisted. Another solution, said the 81-year-old Briton, is to allow smaller teams to buy year-old customer cars. He said a clause will "probably" be written into the next Concorde Agreement. Ecclestone acknowledged the dilemma that allowing customer cars could result in all the small teams buying the best car off-the-shelf, resulting in there being only a handful of constructors left on the grid. "The way I'm imagining it, this would not be possible," he insisted. "I'll tell you about it soon."

New Jersey Promoter Says GP On Schedule: The promoter of the New Jersey Formula One race said the event is firmly on track, despite a comment made one day earlier by the sport’s chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone. “The Formula One Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial is on schedule for June 2013 in every sense,” Formula One Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial Promoter and Director Leo Hindery Jr. said on Wednesday. “The garages and other permanent facilities are well under construction, we’re continuing with track engineering, and all of the other pieces needed for an incredible race in just 14 months are well in hand. We’re working closely with Bernie Ecclestone and F1 to make the race a success for the region, the fans and the sport – and it will be.” On Tuesday, Ecclestone told the BBC, “Maybe the New York race will be 2013. It's a when, 2013 or 2014.”

No Bitterness As Red Bull Congratulates Mercedes: Helmut Marko insists there are no hard feelings between Red Bull and Mercedes, after Nico Rosberg last weekend scored the German carmaker's first works Grand Prix win in half a century. Earlier, the two teams had been at loggerheads over the controversial 'double-DRS' innovation, with Mercedes returning fire by questioning the legality of Red Bull's engine settings. When asked if the spat meant Sunday's Shanghai result was sour in Red Bull advisor Marko's mouth, the Austrian insisted: "We're competitors, and of course we all try to get the best outcome for our own teams. But I congratulated Norbert Haug sincerely at the airport in Shanghai." Marko said the double-DRS argument is effectively now over. "The unsuccessful protest means that the F-duct system is legal," he said, "so for us that's it." Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted this week that it is "inevitable" other teams will now seek to develop their own double-DRS. "First of all, like any component," he is quoted by the Daily Mail, "it has to earn a place on the car as a package. It's not a given that on everybody's car it's bolt-on lap time."

Ecclestone Proposes 'Grand Slam' F1 Races: Bernie Ecclestone's latest proposal is that F1's most important races become a tennis-like 'Grand Slam.' Insisting that the calendar will probably not expand much beyond 20 races, the F1 chief executive also admitted that "circumstances change." If that's the case, the most important races could be like international tennis' Slams. "Absolutely," Ecclestone told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "I'm working on it. And if it gets that far, then there would be more points for the Grand Slam races."