Ferrari and F1 are perfect partners - Ecclestone

By Alan Baldwin

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Ferrari and Formula One are perfect partners despite disagreements over the future of the sport, according to Bernie Ecclestone.

Speaking to reporters at the Spanish Grand Prix, the 78-year-old Formula One supremo played down a suggestion by International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley that the sport "could survive without Ferrari."

"I don't think Max really meant what he said, he was just having a go at (Ferrari president) Luca (de Montezemolo) a little bit," Ecclestone said.

"Formula One is Ferrari and Ferrari is Formula One. It's just a marriage made in heaven, one of those super things that work well."

Ferrari, constructors' champions eight times in the past 10 years, are the sport's most successful and glamorous team and the only ones to have competed in every championship since the first in 1950.

However the Maranello team are at loggerheads with Mosley over plans to introduce an optional 40-million-pound ($60.19-million) cost cap in 2010 in exchange for greater technical freedom.

Montezemolo has warned that this would create a "fundamentally unfair" two-tier championship, with some teams capped and others on unlimited budgets but severely restricted by the regulations.

Ferrari have been struggling this season, suffering their worst ever start and with just three points to their credit after four races.