Thursday 8 May at 19:47 : Bernie Ecclestone in Turkey tried to put a positive spin on the Super Aguri collapse, as his formula one grid dwindles to just ten teams.

"More room," he answered.

"It means we have a lot more room now because the teams are expanding like crazy with their hospitality units and their trucks and everything. We're always running out of room," the F1 chief executive is quoted as saying by PA Sport.

The prescribed maximum for F1 is twelve teams.

"We're not looking for twelve teams, we're looking for ten," he said.

Ecclestone, 77, had been touted as a potential saviour of the Leafield based outfit, and its administrators this week expressed confidence that the outfit might be sold as a going concern.

But, presumably given the team's reportedly $100m debt to Honda, the Briton said he baulked at the price tag.

"I didn't want to put in 100 million, which is what was needed," Ecclestone said.

"For somebody else it might have been okay, but it wasn't for me."

Ecclestone is not confident that the administrators will find a buyer.

"There are a lot of people walking around with a begging bowl," he acknowledged.