F1 needs rule to stop ’disastrous’ wet Fridays - Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has slammed the regulations after packed grandstands at Silverstone on Friday watched little more than falling rain during practice.

Because the teams were saving rain tyres, safeguarding precious new bodywork pieces and expecting better weather for the rest of the British grand prix weekend, the drivers stayed in their garages for the bulk of the opening 90-minute session.

At the same time, a two hour’s drive away, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council was meeting at Goodwood, where a new rule allocating drivers an extra set of dry tyres for Friday practice next year was voted through.

But those dry tyres wouldn’t have helped the wet spectators at Silverstone on Friday.

"It was disastrous for formula one," F1 chief executive Ecclestone admitted to British reporters.

"They need to change the regulations to ensure this sort of thing does not happen. The FIA and the teams need to sort it out," he said.

"People pay good money, and there is a television audience to think about, too.

"Maybe it should be that they get six sets of tyres to use on a Friday and if they do not run, we take away that number from their Saturday total."