One man who literally salivating at the global coverage Formula One is getting following Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix is Bernie Ecclestone, though outwardly he is angered by Red Bull's handling of the situation... and team orders.

It comes to something when The Guardian runs an editorial on Formula One, the left-wing newspaper declaring that Sebastian Vettel "deserves praise, not criticism" for what he did on Sunday, asking its readers; "what is the point of being in an F1 race if you are not trying to win?"

Noting the newspaper's famed political leanings one reader wryly responds: "The Guardian should be supporting the collective over selfish individualism surely." Quite.

Whenever Formula One makes it from the back pages to the front, one man guaranteed to be wearing a grin from ear to ear is the circus master in chief, Bernard Charles, who even as you read this is probably chuckling all the way to the bank.

As fans lament the further manipulation of their sport, Pirelli's mandate to produce tyres that deliberately degrade in order to necessitate more pit stops and compromise team strategy being the most obvious example, Ecclestone is feigning outrage at Sunday's shenanigans.

"At this stage of the championship, I do not believe there should be any team orders," he told the Daily Telegraph. "It does not matter who it is."

"Let's assume that these two guys are in a position to win the championship at the end of the year, then there is no way that Mark is going to help Sebastian," he warned. "So Sebastian has to think about that. Maybe there will be a stage when he would like Mark to help him, but I don't think Mark is going to come up front and do it.

"I suppose, from Christian's point of view, he was concerned that there was going to be an accident, with neither of them finishing," the F1 supremo continued. "Looked at from that angle, you could say both of them were silly. The guy to back off could have been Sebastian. On the other hand, they're racing. Sebastian wants to win the world championship, and so does Mark.

"Sebastian is a racer, he doesn't know about losing," he added. "He doesn't want to lose. Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser."

Ecclestone was also none too happy with the similar situation at Mercedes where Nico Rosberg was ordered to defer to Lewis Hamilton.

"I was disappointed that Mercedes didn't let Rosberg go past," he said. "I thought that was a stupid decision. I think Rosberg could have chased the two Red Bulls down a little more. That decision wasn't sensible."