Ecclestone Blames US F1 for Ruining Stefan GP's Entry

Bernie Ecclestone was a fan of the newly established Stefan GP team from the get go, as the Formula One supremo constantly lobbied for the Serbian outfit throughout the media in recent months. However, when the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) met a couple of weeks ago, they decided not to hand Zoran Setfanovic's team an entry into the 2010 championship, despite the fact that they had already shipped their cars and equipment to Bahrain.

Additionally, the FIA decided to keep US F1 out of the sport also, as the North American team failed to secure the necessary funds to compete in the series this year. And, according to Ecclestone, the Charlotte-based organization could be regarded as the main party responsible for Stefan GP's failure to make it to the 2010 grid.

The F1 boss made it very clear that Stefan GP's hands were tied in the early months of 2010 because “the other people (meaning the US F1 team) had an entry and kept saying that they were going to be here, that there is no problem and everything is fine.”

“As they had an entry we could not say 'sorry we don't believe you,” the 79-year-old told his official website f1.com.

Nevertheless, he did point out the fact that he had warned the FIA from early January that at least two teams would have difficulties in keeping their F1 entry for 2010 – Campos GP and US F1 at the time – and nobody listened to him. In the end, the Spanish outfit was saved in the eleventh hour by Spanish businessman Jose Ramon Carabante (and will start the season without a single mile of testing) and US F1 dropped out due to lack of funds.

“I said that, and got a lot of criticism. I said that, and it turned out to be the truth. Unfortunately it was not possible to get Stefan GP in at the last minute. You need to do such things a bit more sensibly,” added the 79-year old Brit.