Ferrari haven’t won the constructor’s championship since 2008 when Felipe Massa came agonisingly close to clinching the title in Brazil with Lewis Hamilton beating him by just one point.
Since then, Formula One has been dominated by Red Bull and Mercedes with both teams picking up four championships each.
But this year has seen Ferrari put up a much stronger fight with Sebastian Vettel winning four races and holding the lead in the driver’s standings up until last month.
Mercedes clinched this year’s constructor’s championship last weekend in Austin but there is hope in the Ferrari garage they will build on their title challenge in 2018.
There was controversy involving Ferrari at the US Grand Prix when Max Verstappen was demoted from the podium, pushing Kimi Raikkonen up to third.
That prompted accusations from Formula One fans regarding favouritism to the Italian team, and Ecclestone admits that was the case in the past.
“Max has often helped Ferrari, and I too wanted them to win. There can be a season won by others, but even the other teams have an interest in challenging a competitive Ferrari. It’s one thing to win against Sauber and quite another to win against a red car,” Ecclestone told La Republic.
“But certainly at one point they had help with this engine. It’s the same for Mercedes as it is for the others – a world championship win against Ferrari is always worth more.
“If Mercedes decided to transfer technology to Maranello, I say it was a good move.”
He added: “F1 is Ferrari, and Ferrari is F1. Helping Ferrari has always been the smartest thing to do. It was always done through the technical regulations.
“The teams are important to F1, but Ferrari is more than that. So many things have been done over the years that have helped Ferrari to win.”