Ecclestone calls the shots in Formula One

Gerhard Gribowsky, chairman of F1 holding company SLEC, said: "We would be badly advised to exclude a key figure like Ecclestone.

"But there is a limit. We'll not accept a role in which we carry the risks and are ready to fight for our position.

"Our aim is to guarantee the sport's long-term stability."

Gribowsky is a senior figure at Bayerische Landesbank, which is one of the banks that owns 75% of SLEC.

Last week the banks successfully challenged the right of Ecclestone to appoint his own directors to the board of Formula One Holdings - the company that controls the commercial side of the sport.

The moves into China and Bahrain were without doubt right Banker Gerhard Gribowsky

Gribowsky admitted the banks were not looking to be involved directly in running the sport in the long term.

"At some point the time may come when we say, 'OK, we are leaving again," he told German newspaper Der Spiegel.

When asked when the banks were planning to step back from their involvement in F1, Gribowsky said: "From today's point of view, in three to five years. Not earlier."

Gribowsky also praised the sport's recent expansion into new markets away from its traditional European base.

"The moves into China and Bahrain were without doubt right," he said.