Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has criticised the sport's current teams for being too "selfish".

In a wide-ranging interview with the official F1® website on Saturday, Ecclestone hit out at the teams, as well as expressing his concern at dwindling audiences and the protracted way in which decisions over the future of the sport are made.

"The teams are egoistic," he said. "They do nothing for the sport, only for themselves. They only do what is good for them.

"It is frustrating to see that they just think about the present and have no visions for the future. I think there are people in the paddock who don't think beyond the next race.

"I think I would like to get back to a modus where somebody has got the responsibility to make decisions. You need somebody to set the direction. Now it takes too long to get things working.

"Somebody goes into hospital because they're sick and a surgeon might say that they've got to have their arm cut off - and they do it, and that's it. They don't have a meeting about it. We have meetings.

"As I said, the level of selfishness has increased."

Ecclestone also took a swipe at television coverage of the sport, criticising commentators for "hiding behind technical terms". 

"We have lost audience and I want to know why," he added. "There are so many options people have these days for entertainment.

"Before you had a handful of channels - and on one you could watch Formula One. Now people can choose from too many options - that confuses.

"And commentators add to the situation as they explain for an expert audience and not for people wanting to have an entertaining afternoon in front of their tellies. 

"And many times these commentators hide behind technical terms because they themselves don't fully understand what is going on. There you have it."