Bernie Ecclestone has joined those who are heavily critical of Caterham’s plea for fans’ money to get the struggling team back on track.<\/p>\n
In administration and missing in Austin and Brazil, the outfit has launched a crowdfunding scheme to raise the almost $4 million it says it needs to make it to this year’s Abu Dhabi finale.<\/p>\n
It is a last roll of the dice for the beleaguered Tony Fernandes-founded outfit, with F1 chief executive Ecclestone warning on Saturday that if Caterham doesn’t race in Abu Dhabi, the team will lose its place on the 2015 grid.<\/p>\n
“Yes, absolutely,” he told reporters at Interlagos.<\/p>\n
“If I sit in a poker game and I can’t afford to be there with the other people, I get killed and have to leave,” the 84-year-old Briton added.<\/p>\n
Red Bull’s Christian Horner has already slammed Caterham’s public appeal for money, even though the backmarker team has already raised a surprising $800,000 — more than 20 per cent of the funds it needs for Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
But GPDA president Alex Wurz agrees with Horner.<\/p>\n
“Since I’ve been in formula one, and that’s a few years, it has always been extremely tight with the teams at the back end,” the Austrian is quoted by German broadcaster Sky.<\/p>\n
“Some teams spend more than they have.\u00a0 They knew the economic conditions, they voluntarily signed up for F1 and they didn’t manage their money properly.<\/p>\n
“For teams like this, I do not have so much compassion,” Wurz admitted.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone, meanwhile, returned to his now familiar “begging bowl” theme to reject Caterham’s crowdfunding plea.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago, when bailiffs were seizing Caterham’s assets and advertising them for sale on Twitter, Ecclestone had said: “I think it’s better they go.<\/p>\n
“I don’t want people going around with begging bowls.”<\/p>\n
Now, as Caterham puts its hand out to its fans, he said of the crowdfunding project: “I think it’s a disaster.<\/p>\n
“We don’t want begging bowls.\u00a0 If people can’t afford to be in formula one they have to find something else to do.”<\/p>\n
Ecclestone also had bad news for angry privateers Lotus, Force India and Sauber on Saturday, as he was asked for an update on behind the scenes talks about a so-called $160 million ‘fighting fund’.<\/p>\n
Asked if the sport’s owner CVC is prepared to release the money, he told Britain’s Sky: “We’re not allowed to.<\/p>\n
“The only way that that could ever happen is if the (other) teams agree to share their money.\u00a0 They are getting nearly a billion, so maybe they can chip a few quid in between them,” added Ecclestone.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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