Ecclestone says track limits relaxation requires rule change

The Strategy Group discussed the subject after Ecclestone put "Kerbs" on the agenda during Thursday's meeting in Geneva, and it was agreed in principle to relaxing track limits.

Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene was particular supportive, believing that cars going wide added to the show.

However, at Hockenheim, Charlie Whiting resisted the push for a relaxation and imposed strict track limits at Turn 1 - although he decided overnight to allow drivers a little extra leeway there from FP3 onwards, while keeping a limit in place.

Arrivabene, Toto Wolff and Christian Horner lobbied Ecclestone on the subject on Friday, and the last two met with him again on Saturday morning.

However, Ecclestone acknowledges what what was agreed in the Strategy Group did not go through the full process.

"What was decided was we'd give it a go and then afterwards evaluate," Ecclestone told Motorsport.com.

"Charlie sort of feels that we should stick more to the rules. There are rules that say where you can and where you can't drive.

"It was me that put it in the agenda for the Strategy Group – the public don't understand this and don't care. But in the mean time we have got rules, and we need to stick to them.

"Although it was discussed in the Strategy Group and it was more or less unanimously accepted, we couldn't do it because the Strategy Group didn't actually vote. If they had voted it would have had to go to the F1 Commission to get approval.

"So it really couldn't happen. We have to do it properly. We need to write a regulation, and vote on the regulation."

No tensions

Ecclestone denied that the saga had created some tension between the FIA on one side and the teams and himself on the other.

"No, not really,"  he said. "It's just a little bit frustrating because they think, 'what the hell difference will it make?' But when you let that go through, then it's 'what the hell difference will it make to something else?'

"In the end it's the stewards who make the decisions. If by chance people cross the white line, what happens? It's the stewards who decided if they are reprimanded or not.

"I think the stewards look upon this as, perhaps if they don't get an advantage, it's not terrible. If they get an advantage, for sure they take their times away.

"If someone goes off because they haven't got any choice, if they had to miss another car if you like to avoid an accident, I think the stewards will look at it and say it's the right thing to do."

Meanwhile, Wolff says that the approach to track limits could change before the Belgian Grand Prix.

“There is no formal governance to vote on, the Strategy Group just gives recommendations to the F1 Commission,” he told Motorsport.com.

“It’s Charlie, who up to his discretion, can interpret the rules. I think there’s quite a scope of interpretation.

“In Hockenheim the rules are clear, there’s no corner where you can run so wide that it will make you faster, so there is no problem at the moment. I think we will have more discussions until Spa.”