Force India: Inequality in F1 Gravely Threatens Independent Teams

During its last meeting, the Strategic Group decided, among other things, to reintroduce fuel refueling and increase engine rpm. However, no regulation was adopted to reduce costs, which has been consistently demanded by independent teams, those not dependent on any major manufacturer.

Speaking to Autosport, Bob Fernley, the deputy team principal of Force India, acknowledges with regret the inertia of F1 decision-makers: “Fundamentally, what is absolutely certain is that there will be no initiative in favor of cost reduction. There will be no attention paid to an equitable distribution of revenue, and engine costs will not decrease.”

Bob Fernley is worried about the future of private teams. Eventually, these structures might be forced to buy customer chassis from major manufacturers, thereby losing their independence: « The idea is to give independent teams the option to become customer teams. Of course, you can remain a full-fledged constructor, no one can take that away from you. However, the difficulty arising from the continuous increase in F1 costs will make it challenging to be competitive as a constructor. We are still not convinced that customer chassis are the right path to take, but obviously, it seems to be the direction that is now emerging. »

It is therefore the very survival of the small teams that is at stake: « As an independent team, we will need to look at our business model and decide how we will manage to survive. It will be the same for Sauber, Williams, Lotus, and Manor. »

This season, Force India, which is part of the strategic group due to its 6th place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2014, is experiencing severe financial difficulties, which have led it to postpone the introduction of its 2015 car to the end of the summer. Hardly better off, Manor is still fighting for survival, while Sauber is expected to only marginally develop its car this season.