Mansell: F1 must stop shooting itself in the foot.

Nigel Mansell has slammed the current status quo in F1, branding the sport a 'Mickey Mouse' affair.

Speaking to British newspaper, The Daily Mirror, the 1992 F1 world champion urged F1 ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone to take action and ensure F1 remains the pinnacle of motorsport.

"I think I'm more disappointed [with F1] than ever this year," Mansell told the tabloid 'paper.

"I think F1 has brought itself into disrepute and that's a great shame for the sponsors, team owners and the manufacturers.

"You and I know in half an hour we could write a better set of rules - and I don't care who this upsets. If it isn't broken don't try to fix it and what they've done in the last couple of years is rewrite things to try to make it fairer or more interesting. Instead they have made it Mickey Mouse."

Mansell was particularly critical of one-lap qualifying and the current system that penalises drivers, if they change an engine prior to the race, something that has severely hampered Kimi Raikkonen's championship challenge in the last two events.

"The two-race engine rule with the 10-place penalty if it fails is a Mickey Mouse rule," added the Brit.

"Qualifying used to be better than the racing sometimes. You had to pick your time to find a clear lap, showing the skill of the engineers, take the temperature of the tyres and track before gauging when to do a good lap.

"Now you get one lap. What's that all about? It's just tossing a coin. It's a joke. It's insulting for F1.

"One set of tyres for F1? How dangerous is that? F1 at the moment keeps shooting itself in the foot badly and there is no need.

"As a fan I feel cheated. The sport is losing credibility and a big fan base. The people who run F1 deserve what they get. I know they are sometimes arrogant enough to think it doesn't matter, but it does. Bernie, if you're going to be the boss then be the boss and govern it."