[F1] Force India's Fernley fears more teams could drop out

Force India's Bob Fernley fears more teams could drop out of Formula 1 following the collapse of Caterham and Marussia.
Ecclestone: F1 teams could supply third cars to troubled rivals



Neither team is expected to attend this weekend's United States Grand Prix due to financial issues for both backmarker outfits.

While Caterham has been placed under administration, reports claim that it is only a matter of time before the same fate befalls Marussia.

Should neither team find a way back onto the grid, that would mean none of the new teams that joined the sport in 2010 survived.

"We've had three new teams since 2010, and all three have collapsed," Fernley told The Telegraph.

"The writing was on the wall from the beginning.

"Only five teams have a say in the running of Formula One - we'll lose more teams if we carry on like this.

"If there had been cost control and more equitable distribution of the prize money maybe Caterham and Marussia wouldn't have failed."



The FIA has ruled out asking Formula 1's top teams to run a third car this season, despite the likelihood of both Caterham and Marussia teams missing at least the USGP at Circuit of The Americas. However, F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told the UK's Daily Mail that teams have signed contracts agreeing to supply third cars if the need arises – to be fielded not by themselves, but rival teams!

"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,'" Ecclestone told the Mail. "The team wouldn't have to go under then, would they? If Red Bull decided they would give a car to Caterham, for example, that could solve their problem."

Aside from the complicated sponsorship picture depicted by Ecclestone's scenario, such a solution would effectively re-introduce customer cars to F1 – something both F1's have- and have-not teams have previously expressed opposition to.

"I think it's not at all a good idea. I cannot even follow the argument that it's going to reduce costs," Sauber's Monisha Kaltenborn said back in June when the idea of F1 customer cars was last floated. "Formula 1 is about constructors and we have to meet the requirement of listed parts to be a constructor.

The necessity for some kind of third-car option could be forced by contracts with race promoters, which state that F1 "shall use its reasonable endeavors to ensure... that at least 16 cars participate in the event." If less than that number take part, F1's contract fees paid by race organizers could be at risk.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff allowed for the prospect of third cars earlier this year, when the risk of such a car-count scenario seemed minimal:

"If the grid should ever fall below 18 cars because we lose teams, then we should start on a white sheet of paper to discuss what we should to do have a solid grid," he said back in June. "Whether it is customer cars, whether it is having a third car, or whatever creative ideas that might come up. But only at the stage that we are having problems with the amount of cars on the grid."

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has maintained that the logistics of third cars on short notice would be prohibitive.

"The chassis and third car logistics and people around, we would need at least six months' notice," he insisted.

But, of course, necessity is the mother of invention...