End of the Marussia team: Wolff saddened and Kaltenborn shocked

After being placed in administration, the Marussia team ultimately saw its adventure come to an end yesterday with its cessation of activity after only four years of existence.

The financial difficulties encountered by the British-Russian team are not new, but the announcement of the team’s closure surprised the paddock. Toto Wolff, head of competition at Mercedes, expressed his sadness, quoted by GPUpdate: “We are very sad to hear the news about Marussia. They are a group of true competitors who have endured tough times but also managed to score two points this year, which is a great reward for them. Our thoughts are with the people who believed in the team and now find themselves in such a tough personal situation.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, for her part, expressed her shock at this news—cited by the BBC Sport—believing that F1 generates enough money to ensure the survival of its teams and reaffirming a need for change in revenue distribution: « It’s shocking news not to be in a position to keep such a team alive. We have a turnover of several billion dollars, and yet we are not able to keep 11 teams alive. And that shows you the sport is not sending a good signal, and we are creating a bad image. So we have to look at how the revenues are distributed, and we need to find a way to reduce costs. »

The director of the Sauber F1 team also commented on the situation of the Caterham team, which has launched a crowdfunding campaign to be present in Abu Dhabi: « Imagine how devastating it is to see that we are the pinnacle of motorsport. We spend millions, receive even greater revenues, and yet there is a team that is so desperate it has to take such measures. I don’t understand why there isn’t this kind of sympathy. »