Manama: Bernie Ecclestone had the right idea. Fifty minutes into Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, he took leave of his own show to catch the private jet home.
Back in London this week, Formula One's impresario was confronted by headlines informing him about what he had missed: Another hour of a procession that made the race the most disappointing in recent memory.
He was clear that the blame lies with the self-interested teams, whose boffins create state-of-the-art cars with aerodynamic effects that are not conducive to producing wheel-to-wheel spectacle.
That is more the issue, he believes, than the ban on in-race refuelling and the introduction of one mandatory tyre change at last weekend's deflating opening round of what was expected to be a dazzling championship.
Ecclestone said: "It is basically the same problem we have had for the last few years, with cars not being able to get close to the one in front to create more overtaking. The teams know this but they won't do anything about it because each team look after their own interests, trying to win."
"I had a meeting with the teams and tried to explain to them what our business is about — racing and entertaining the public, not about playing with computers and going fast over one lap. You cannot really have teams having a part in the sporting or technical regulations."
Outside engineers
"Really, we need an outside set of engineers to draw up the regulations and then they would give the teams two years' notice."
But this season there can be only tinkering, given that the entire design of the 2010 cars are predicated on the existing regulations. Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner has another idea. He said: "After the race I proposed to Bernie two mandatory pit stops to try and shake things up a bit."
McLaren publicly support the move. Ferrari privately do not and, with the FIA requiring unanimity from the teams to change the rules mid-season, there appears little chance of a revamp.
"There is no panic," insisted Ecclestone, who favours waiting until after the fourth race, in China next month, before considering whether to shake up the rules. "There is no crisis for F1," he said.
That depends on what happens next, in Australia on Sunday week and Malaysia seven days later.
Even watching Ferrari's Bahrain winner Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton is not much fun when they pit together and follow each other round. It might involve motors, but it is nothing like racing.
