Red Bull certainly had food for thought after Jerez © PA Images Enlarge

Bernie Ecclestone has labelled this week's testing in Jerez "a farce" and blamed rule changes, many of which he has not supported, for a less than satisfactory four days.

"Look at the last few days. I said it was going to be like this … a total farce," he told the Daily Mail. "They [the FIA and the teams] insisted on these new engines. If they wanted to race like this they should go to Le Mans.

"They talk about saving fuel. They don't need these new engines to achieve that. They should get smaller motorhomes. Then they wouldn't need so many trucks going all round Europe. Mercedes are taking 23 trucks with them everywhere. If they really wanted to save fuel they should stop that.

"The whole thing with the new engines is totally absurd. People want noise - something special, that's what F1 is all about - and now we have quiet engines and nobody on the track."

Few would disagree that the changes are likely to result in some surprises early on in the season. Red Bull headed home from Spain with its tail between its collective legs, Daniel Ricciardo admitting: "Adrian [Newey] has gone back to the drawing board."

Ecclestone thought that was one good thing to come out of the changes. "The season could be extremely interesting … really unpredictable, and that is the exciting thing."

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