F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone said that the struggling Caterham and Marussia F1 teams "will both miss next week's U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. Ecclestone said, "Neither of those two teams are going to go to America." Their absence "will increase concern in the sport, whose smaller outfits have been saying for some time that they risk going out of business unless costs are slashed, even though Ecclestone has said he would be happy with 10 teams." Caterham "went into administration on Friday while Russian-registered Marussia are also struggling financially and are still reeling from French driver Jules Bianchi's serious accident in Japan three weeks ago." Representatives of Marussia "were not immediately contactable." However, Caterham's administrator Finbarr O'Connell said that "the cars remained in the factory at Leafield." O'Connell: "The racing kit was heading towards Austin but it's still in the U.K. It will stay in the U.K. and hopefully if Caterham races in one of the last races we will ship the racing kit from here." O'Connell added that there had been "10 to 15 serious interested parties on the phone today and we are speaking to all those and getting information together for them to examine." By missing the race in Austin, the two teams "will also be absent from Brazil since the races are back to back with the cars going direct from the United States to Brazil before returning to Europe." Ecclestone said on Friday that "Caterham had been given a dispensation to miss the next two races while they sought a buyer." Marussia's absence "will leave the grid in Austin with only nine teams and none of the three entirely new entrants that made debuts in 2010." Of that trio, "HRT folded at the end of 2012" (REUTERS, 10/25). In London, Christian Sylt wrote Ecclestone "revealed that Formula One's teams have signed contracts agreeing to help competitors which get into financial trouble by supplying a car to them." It "is a particularly pressing problem." Eleventh hour talks "are underway to save it and Ecclestone says another team may have to step in by supplying it with a car." The controversial rule "is written into the teams' contracts with Ecclestone and it forces them to field a third car if the grid slips below a threshold of 20 cars." It was thought that "the teams would run the third car themselves but in
fact it would be supplied to ailing rivals to stop them from going
under." They "would supply a third car to
someone else so if, for example, Sauber disappeared, a team could do a
deal with Sauber." Ferrari could say, ''we will give you a car, all that
goes with it, and we want you to put this sponsor on it. You have your
own sponsors but we want you to include this one as well and we want you
to take this driver.'' The team would not "have to go under then would
they?" If Red Bull decided that "they would give a car to Caterham for example
that could solve their problem." The
reason for the clause is that Ecclestone's contracts with race
organizers state that F1 "shall use its reasonable endeavours to
ensure ... that at least sixteen cars participate in the Event" (DAILY MAIL, 10/25).
INTERESTED PARTIES: Also in London, Andy Sharman wrote Ecclestone "has thrown his weight behind a sale of the Caterham Formula One team, after the motor racing group followed its manufacturing arm into administration." Smith & Williamson, which has been acting as administrator to Caterham Sports Ltd. -- maker of the F1 car -- on Friday "acquired the share capital of 1MRT, the Malaysian company that holds the licence to race in the FIA championship." The administrator said it had been contacted by "a number of interested parties" expressing a wish to buy the team and the manufacturing operations, including the racing cars, designs and intellectual property for current and future seasons. O’Connell said the interested parties included an “extremely wealthy individual from the U.S." O'Connell: "If I can raise more money that way ... I’m prepared to do that." On Friday, O’Connell also had a telephone conversation with Ecclestone in which the motorsport boss said that "he supported the administrators in their plan to sell the team." Ecclestone said that "he hoped a new owner would be in a position to enter the team in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in mid-November" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 10/24).
