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Ferrari, Bernie want F1 rule changes

In a rare media statement, Ferrari has declared that fans are "unhappy with the new Formula 1".

The team has polled 50 000 fans and report that "83% are disappointed" with the new fuel-saving formula.

Ferrari said: "In addition, the fans don't like the noise from the new engines and are confused by rules that are too complicated."

‘WE NEED SUPPORT’

On Thursday (April 04), Wheels24 reported that Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone  met in London. The pair will meet FIA president Jean Todt in Bahrain to discuss the issues in F1.

Ecclestone told The Times in Bahrain: "I spoke to Luca and we have the same sort of feelings about what needs to be done."
 
The implication is that Montezemolo and Ecclestone want rule changes to be implemented quickly.

At the top of their list is a reduction in the race distances, so that drivers can press the throttle harder with the new 100kg per race limit.

Ecclestone said: "We need a bit of support from the teams to get it done.

"The only team who might be reluctant are Mercedes because they are going so well but I am sure they won't stand in the way of what needs to be done because we all want the sport to be as good as possible."

MERCEDES WON’T PLAY BALL

Ecclestone might be mistaken in thinking Mercedes will play ball.

Mercedes driver and winner of the 2014 Malaysian GP, Lewis Hamilton, said: "I think di Montezemolo didn't say a thing when Michael (Schumacher) won those five world championships.
 
"It's the same when McLaren won all their championships that they didn't say anything, and the same with Red Bull when they won, they weren't saying anything."

Mercedes-powered Force India driver Sergio Perez denounced the 2014 spectacle as "boring".

Todt said there is currently "too much emotion" in the paddock, just two races into F1's technological revolution.

Todt said: "So many things in these past days have been said and written without really thinking. The new media very quickly spreads it all over the world."

‘WAY QUICKER THAN US’

Even Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, while lamenting the fact that the cars are now almost ten seconds slower today than they were just a few years ago, thinks "more time" should pass before the new F1 is written off.

Alonso said: "There will be some exciting races and some boring ones. If you allow some more fuel in the cars that are fast, they will be even faster.  And the cars that are slow will be a little bit less slow."

For now, the fastest car by some margin is the Mercedes, whose engines will be "way quicker than us"  on the long Bahrain straights, according to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton joked: "The name of the game is to take the focus off yourself and put it on someone else. So I'll do the same - we're expecting them to be really quick this weekend, blah, blah, blah, blah."

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 Bahrain GP weekend.

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