With teams like Prost and Arrows having gone out of business amid falling TV audiences and with smaller outfits battling to get their hands on a share of the wealth generated by the sport, Ecclestone has hit out at the major motor manufacturers.

But with the sport’s governing body, the FIA, under threat of legal action from McLaren and Williams after pushing through new regulations in a bid to spice up the sport, Ecclestone has raised the peace flag.

Five of the major manufacturers – Renault, Jaguar, Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes - are also set to form their own breakaway series when the Concorde Agreement ends in 2007.

But Ecclestone believes the teams and the FIA should join him at the negotiating table.

“The regulations do not reflect today’s values and what we need to be doing now,” Ecclestone told The Times.

“If everybody got around a table, we could start on it now, but I need the teams and the rest to say they want to change.”

Ecclestone also blasted the manufacturers, saying: “Who invited these people into Formula One in the first place? They are just holding out to take control of Formula One without paying any money for it.

“Formula One doesn’t need this sort of trouble and we need to find a way to negotiate a new Concorde Agreement so teams can be looked after and we can see the future clearly.”