By Phil Huff
May 4 2005

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone gave his opinion on the BAR Honda case today, summing up his feelings by saying he "wouldn't have wanted to argue the BAR case." "From the information available, you have to assume they will be found guilty," Bernie told Autosport. "There is always a reason these things happen, it is never a mistake."

With only ten teams in F1, should BAR be excluded then two other teams would be required to run a third, non-points scoring, car. That is a situation no fan wants to see, and one that commercial rights holder Ecclestone would want to avoid.

While a number of punishments are available, should BAR Honda be found guilty, Ecclestone favours a partial ban. "You could say that the constructor cannot score points in the Championship," explains Bernie, "and maybe exclude any points the driver has now, and all the other ones [from now on] would count."

The FIA have called for a ban and a huge financial penalty, while BAR have asked for a small financial penalty if the court decision goes against them. That's a punishment that holds no appeal to Bernie.

"If you can do that," he says, "why don't the teams at the beginning of the season give over a cheque and say: 'if I am caught, cash the cheque'? That's what I would do."