More Formula One teams could follow Caterham and Marussia into administration or failure, former International Automobile Federation president Max Mosley warned on Monday, after Marussia followed rivals Caterham into administration
The move will leave just nine teams and 18 cars on the starting grid for the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, this weekend, the lowest number since 2005, and the former head of F1’s governing body fears that number could fall further.
Caterham went into administration last week, with their factory closed and staff told to stay away until further notice.
Photo: AFP
“With the existing shareholder unable to provide the required level of funding, the [Marussia] senior management team has worked tirelessly to bring new investment to the team to secure its long-term future, but regrettably has been unable to do so within the time available,” FRP Advisory LLP joint administrator Geoff Rowley said.
The news was expected, with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone telling media on Saturday that neither team would be going to Austin.
“It’s not a fair competition any more,” Mosley told the BBC. “The big problem is the big teams have so much more money than teams like Caterham and Marussia. In the end they were bound to drop off, and they may not be the last.”
Both teams were the “paupers” of the paddock, struggling on budgets of £50 million (US$80.59 million) or less compared with £200 million or more for the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.
Mosley tried and failed to bring a cost cap during his time at the federation’s helm and said there should be some basic equality.
“From a sporting point of view, the sport should split the money equally and then let the teams get as much sponsorship as they can,” he added. “A team like Ferrari will always get more sponsorship than Marussia, but if they all get the same basic money then they all start on a level playing field, particularly if you have a cost cap where you limit the amount of money each team is allowed to spend.”
F1 has revenues of more than US$1.5 billion, with more than half going to the commercial rights holders CVC. Teams share 47.5 percent as a prize fund, but the distribution is based on performance.
Certain teams, such as Ferrari, also get additional payments based on past achievements and to recognize their importance to the sport.
Rising engine costs have also made the sport more expensive, with a complex V6 hybrid turbo replacing the old V8 engines this year, and an engine supply costing a customer team more than US$30 million over a season.
“I’m in favor of the ‘greener’ engines,” Mosley said. “The mistake was not saying to the big manufacturers that you can spend as much as you want on research, but the maximum you can charge per season is something like £3 [million] to £4 million.”
There has been no comment from Marussia, who are ninth in the championship, since last week. Their entry is officially held by Manor Grand Prix Racing Ltd, with Russian Andrei Cheglakov the majority shareholder.
Reports have for some time indicated that Cheglakov, whose Marussia sportscar company closed in April, was not prepared to put any more money into the team and was seeking an exit if no buyer was forthcoming.
The Ferrari-powered team were already reeling from the life-threatening injury suffered by their French driver Jules Bianchi in Japan three weeks ago and entered only one car in Russia.
Bianchi, 25, remains in a critical condition in hospital in Japan with serious brain trauma after crashing into a recovery tractor at Suzuka.
Malaysian-registered Caterham are 11th in the championship and have yet to score a point.
The absence of the two British-based teams from Texas means none of the three newcomers that entered the sport in 2010 remains on track.
Marussia’s participation in the Sao Paulo GP and the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 23 will depend on the outcome of the administration process.
However, Rowley recognized there was “a very limited window of opportunity.”
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