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Formula 1's small teams have been promised that a solution will be found to the sport's costs crisis in the next few weeks.



They have also revealed that Bernie Ecclestone has abandoned the idea of third or customer cars.

The team bosses of Lotus, Sauber and Force India met with Ecclestone and CVC representative Donald MacKenzie in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to discuss the financial problems the small teams are facing.

In a joint press conference held afterwards, the trio said it was encouraging that Ecclestone and CVC had finally understood that action was now needed.

Lotus owner Gerard Lopez, pictured above, said: "Both Bernie and CVC realise that they need to take action. We are not going to go into the details of what they are discussing but for sure they are going to go away and look at a number of things.

"We now need to face this issue not just as the commercial rights holder, CVC and us - but we know need to include the bigger teams to take up certain responsibility for what is going on right now, come to [the] table and participate in solving those problems.

"Both agree that there is an issue now, both agree that we are not beggars, we are reasonable and sensible, and both agree it can be solved."

The way forwards appears to be a mixture of a redistribution of the commercial rights income in F1, allied to a push for more cost cuts.

Ecclestone and CVC are likely to meet with manufacturer bosses in Abu Dhabi to discuss the ongoing situation with them.

And although the top teams have been reluctant in recent weeks to accept that they may have to make sacrifices to help smaller outfits, Lopez believes that they can be convinced to change their mind.

"They have every interest in the world of having a stable championship," he said. "The question is if the people at the race track are the ones that need to be looking at this or not."

The costs issue will also likely be discussed at next week's meeting of the Strategy Group and F1 Commission, although it is unclear if a solution will come immediately.

CUSTOMER CAR IDEA DROPPED

Ecclestone has suggested in recent weeks the idea of third cars, customer cars or even a two-tier Super GP2 concept to help boost the grid in the event of small teams folding.

However, Lopez revealed that Ecclestone and CVC had realised that going down that path would not actually save costs.

"One thing we have dismissed is the idea of third cars and customer cars," he said.

"We have managed to disprove that financially speaking it is not an improvement. If you have to pay more, then the cost of buying a car is more than building your own one."