The Maranello-based squad has openly spoken out against the fuel efficiency regulations, and recently published a survey where 80 per cent of its fans said they did not like the new rules.

But despite a thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix having weakened the criticisms that the new fuel rules have lessened the racing spectacle, Ferrari appears unmoved.

It has published comments from the president of the Italian Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malago, who claims that F1 has gone in the wrong direction with the 2014 regulations.

“I speak on behalf of Italian sports people and fans, I don’t like this Formula 1 and in my opinion it’s delivered a product that has absolutely no sense,” he was quoted as saying.

“In my opinion, it’s a form of self-harm.

“I hope the people who run the sport look again at the rules because the way Formula 1 is now, it has much less appeal and that’s a shame as it is an extraordinary world.”

FIA president Jean Todt met with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo during the Bahrain Grand Prix to discuss the state of F1, and was unmoved afterwards about the criticisms.

When asked for his feelings on the Ferrari fan survey, Todt felt the real issue was that the sport had not done enough to inform spectators about the benefits of the new rules.

“It is education and it is something I have been mentioning to everybody,” he said.

“You need to explain to people that the drivers are driving flat out from the first to the last lap.

“You need to explain what is the flow meter, and at the moment, we as the FIA as well, we need to do a better job to explain exactly what are the new regulations.

“The supporters, they don’t know completely what the new regulations are. And, I must say, it is complex.”

‘);
};
fctGoogle();

window.addEvent(‘Eurosport_v7.Init’, function() {
if(!$(‘googlePlusScript’)) {
Asset.javascript(‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’, {
‘id’: ‘googlePlusScript’
});
}
});
})();

—