Bernie Ecclestone hits out at countries refusing to spend on GPs

Bernie Ecclestone has criticised European nations that refuse to spend more to keep their Grand Prix on the Formula One calendar.

When asked recently by Top Gear which races he has regretted losing, the F1 supremo revealed that he was disappointed to lose the Turkish and Indian Grands Prix.

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"Two races we've lost which I'm genuinely upset about were India and Turkey," he admitted.

That revelation comes despite the loss of the French Grand Prix eight years ago, and the increasing doubt surrounding the German and Italian races, despite the latter recently agreeing to a new deal.

"It's the same as in England," Ecclestone said. "Silverstone is not, I'd say, super-safe - quite the opposite. These circuits don't need a lot of money to make them safe."

"It's disappointing to think that all these countries spend a lot of money trying to get the Olympics ... and nobody makes any money out of. Yet, for the small amount of money they could (spend on) a Formula One race, they don't want to do it," he added.

Ecclestone also admitted that he is concerned by Mercedes domination. The German marque has been unstoppable since the introduction of the 1.6 litre V6 turbo formula in 2014, and prior to this season they refused to supply Red Bull with engines.

The 85-year-old also denied that his relationship with Wolff was strained and said he would welcome a challenge from the Austrian for the leadership of F1

"I'm very happy for him to try. Or anybody else," said Ecclestone.

Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan also alleges that Wolff is 'close' to Ferrari, amid rumours that Mercedes had helped the Italian team to catch up in 2016.

"I think they (Mercedes) wanted to see Ferrari be a little bit more competitive ... and Ferrari was happy to get the information it got. Because it got a lot of information from Mercedes," Ecclestone agreed.

Losing commercial rights a regret - Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone also revealed that losing the commercial rights for Formula One was one of his biggest regrets.

"She (former wife Slavica) put it all in trust and the trust sold the shares. Would I turn the clock back if I could so I still owned the company completely? Probably yes.

"It probably wasn't a good decision, but it was the decision that had to be made. Was I happy that I made it? No," Ecclestone concluded.