Ecclestone: The grid could drop to “14 cars” in 2015
Asked in the context of the severe financial difficulties faced by certain teams, Bernie Ecclestone was alarmist and once again criticized the 2014 regulations and the V6 turbo.
F1 has plunged back into the turmoil of financial difficulties. The withdrawal of Caterham and Marussia from the United States Grand Prix – and likely from Brazil – has highlighted better than any speech the risks of losing the sport’s most fragile elements.
Many actors have attempted in recent months to sound the alarm to encourage authorities to enforce a true limitation of costs. However, most of the measures considered – notably the budget cap issue or customer chassis – have been rejected when they were presented to the F1 Strategy Group, a tripartite body (FIA, FOM, and six teams including the most powerful) responsible for proposing regulatory changes to the F1 Commission.
Questioned about the risk of seeing the grid shrink visibly, Bernie Ecclestone, the president of FOM who holds the commercial rights to F1 and manages the distribution of revenue to the teams, expressed pessimism and called for changes: [The grid] could drop to 14 cars. If we lose two more teams, that’s what will happen. I can’t predict if it’s going to happen or not. But if it’s 18, it’s not a problem at all, he stated to Sky Sports. We need [the small teams] if they deliver decent performances and are not there to beg.
Then, he once again attacked the new engine regulation, which he had already strongly criticized at the beginning of the season: « We must change the regulations. We need to get rid of these engines because they do nothing for anyone. This is not Formula 1. »
The question of the third car per team, discussed for several weeks, notably by the 84-year-old Briton, does not seem to convince Martin Brundle at all, a former driver for McLaren, Ligier, or Jordan and now a consultant for *Sky Sports*: « It’s a short-term solution, but a long-term disaster […] I was told this morning that it would cost between 44 and 50 million euros to run an additional car next year, and it probably couldn’t score points; that’s not yet clear. But how are you going to recoup the money spent on this car? There won’t be enough young drivers willing to pay between 44 and 50 million euros. New sponsors? McLaren already runs without a title sponsor. So you see that and think it’s really going to work? »
If the third car were introduced, it could be reserved for a designated young driver. But, more simply, the system could also be reserved for certain teams. I believe there are three teams – McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari – who would be the first to be offered the chance to run a third car, then it would be Mercedes and the others. It’s quite a complicated system that only Formula 1 seems capable of producing, the former driver quipped.
With 18 cars entered for the Grand Prix held in Austin this weekend, F1 is experiencing its least populated starting grid since 2005 and the Monaco Grand Prix from which the BAR team was excluded following cheating discovered at San Marino.
If Marussia and Caterham were to disappear permanently—which is not certain, as the judicial recovery procedure aims precisely to find buyers before ceasing operations—attention would turn to the Sauber and Lotus teams. These two structures, also in financial difficulty, seem to be on a tightrope. Monisha Kaltenborn, the director of the Swiss team, did not hesitate to express her anger on Friday: I am beyond the stage of frustration. I am one of the very disappointed people because it’s one thing to constantly talk about this terrible scenario in which certain teams will no longer be there, but it’s the sport itself and the people responsible for the sport: letting it go this far is extremely concerning.
