Fernley: There is a plan to “chase away” the smaller F1 teams

The cost crisis in Formula 1 has led to Caterham and Marussia being placed in administration. But for Robert Fernley, deputy director of Force India, this situation results from a plan to eliminate the smaller teams.

« F1 is at a crossroads. There is clearly a plan. Two teams have been ousted. How many will have to be ousted before they reach their goal? » he inquired inquisitively.

For Fernley, it is the holders of commercial rights—most notably the CVC company owned by Bernie Ecclestone—as well as the top teams that act within the F1 Strategy Group by defining rules with a specific purpose.

« We missed an opportunity to make F1 viable. It’s gone, and there’s no point in looking back. I think F1 will be in a different format in 2015, and I don’t know what that is. CVC and the teams in charge have some sort of program because [otherwise] no one would want teams to go out of business. There’s a [financial] split that isn’t fair. »

For several months, the directors of small structures have been calling for a more equitable redistribution of income, noting that it currently favors the big teams. 63% of the 1.8 billion in revenue generated by the discipline goes to the teams, but two-thirds of this amount goes to the six most powerful ones.

Furthermore, the smaller teams have been struggling to attract sponsors since the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2007. The increased costs brought about by the shift to hybrid V6 turbo technology have also affected the finances of these organizations.

The supply of a car by the big teams to smaller structures is a solution mentioned by Bernie Ecclestone. The contracts signed between the commercial rights holders and the teams would stipulate that Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren would be the first to have to provide a car if the grid fell below 20 cars, which is currently the case. For the BBC, the FOM president stated: « The third car, my original idea […] is that the manufacturer can make a deal with a team. Red Bull, if you like, could say to Caterham: “You have a car, you have to run a driver of your choice in the car. You run the car. You still call it Caterham or whatever, and the idea was that if this team scored points, then half of those should go to the team supplying the car. »

« I don’t think that will probably be the path followed, three Ferraris that the Ferrari team runs, I think that would be bad. I suggest that if it happens one day, maybe the third car should have a different sponsor and different colors, so everything is up in the air about how we will operate if we lose teams. I would prefer not to lose teams. »