Bernie Ecclestone's short cut to success

“It would be great for TV and good for commentators, who would talk about one driver with three [short cuts] left and another with two.”

It is the second year in succession that Ecclestone has visited Ferrari’s traditional pre-season ski meeting here, where the Scuderia introduce their drivers for the season — in this case, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who have been enjoying a chance to get on the piste.

Ecclestone, who is being accompanied by his 30-year-old girlfriend, Fabiana Flosi, during a two-day stay, is being treated like visiting royalty. And he has not ruled out a little skiing. “If you do, I will,” he quipped when asked about his plans by The Times.

He echoed the view of millions of fans in predicting that this year could be a classic season — for all the right reasons. “We’ve got four world champions, for a start, and I was too young to remember the last time that happened,” Ecclestone said. In fact it was 1999, when Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen were racing.

This year Schumacher is back as he makes his eagerly awaited return with Mercedes GP, up against the British “dream team” at McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, and the new star in the Ferrari firmament, Alonso.

“It’s wonderful,” Ecclestone said. “I think it’s going to be a good year. I’d be surprised if it isn’t one of the best years for a long time.”

Despite confident noises to the contrary by Campos Meta and US F1, two of the new teams on the grid this season, Ecclestone repeated his view that they are going to struggle to make it, for want of funds.

“I think they will have trouble getting to the first race [in Bahrain on March 14],” he said. “Obviously when you speak to those people, they say, ‘Everything’s fine, there is no drama.’ But I’m sure there is drama.”

Within Ferrari, the excitement about Alonso’s arrival is all too obvious. Stefano Domenicali, the team principal, said he was certain that the charismatic Spaniard had the skill and experience to beat Schumacher again.

“Fernando has all that is necessary to defeat him,” he said. “A driver can be the best in the world, but without the best tools, even the best in the world will have problems winning.

“It will be up to us to give him the right car.”