Seven of the 11 F1 teams "are reportedly unable to afford the new engines for the '14 season," according to Helmut Uhl of BILD. Besides the top four teams, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, "the rest of the field is in financial trouble." The three engine suppliers, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, "experienced it first hand when they annouced the prices of the new 1.6 liter V6 turbo engines for the '14 season." Renault is asking up to €23M ($30M) per team for the whole season. Out of four teams that Renault currently supplies, only Red Bull would be able to pay for the '14 engine. The other three teams, Caterham, Williams and Lotus, have already said that "they are unable to afford it." Toro Rosso, which currently gets its engines from Ferrari and is rumored to switch to Renault engines in '14, "would also be unable to pay" the steep price of €23M. Mercedes has already reduced the prices for its engines from €20M ($26) to €18M ($23M), so McLaren and Force India "might be able to afford them." And Sauber, which gets its engines from Ferrari, "is to be unable to afford" the €15M ($19M) that Ferrari wants for its engine (BILD, 5/16).
