While the teams seek an "urgent consultation" with the FIA - extremely urgent bearing in mind the closing date for entry in the 2010 World Championship is May 29 - Bernie Ecclestone has given his full support to the proposed budget-cap, claiming that the big teams don't appear to understand the need to reduce costs.

"The big teams don't get it because it's not in their DNA to make money in Formula One," he told British tabloid the Daily Express. "All they want to do is spend, spend, spend.

"Odd isn't it that at a time when everyone else in the commercial world is trying to cut costs and save money, we offer them a plan and some are not happy," he added.

The F1 supremo denies saying that he thought the proposed £40m cap too low and that he believes a £60m limit would be better. £40m is ample, he insists.

"We have said it will be £40m and it will be," said the Englishman. "I've said that, with the engine outside of that cost, driver salaries and however much they want to spend on motorhomes or marketing, it would be more like £60m.

"But that is there for everyone to see. The people who want in can see that this is a figure at which they can make a profit, and that's what business is all about, isn't it? You don't have to spend this figure. It is only the cap. There are a lot of clever people out there who could maybe do a lot more with less. Look at how Brawn have gone this season and their budget is a lot less than quite a few teams who are behind them.

"We want to get back to invention and imagination in F1 and away from a spending race," he continued. "Don't forget, there are teams spending £250m a year at the moment. It doesn't automatically buy success. Ferrari didn't win a title for 10 years and spent four times as much as anyone else."

As good as it is to see Ecclestone encouraging prudence and thrift, it seems slightly at odds when one considers the money he demands from circuits owners/governments, especially when the fee for hosting a race rises by a fixed rate every season.

Interesting also, that despite his desire to see common sense with regards spending, he is pushing Donington to spend money it clearly has not got, while turning his back on Silverstone because it is unwilling and unable to splash the cash on increased race fees and improved facilities that would ultimately only benefit the man himself.