A week after the boycott threats of Austin, struggling teams Lotus, Force India and Sauber travelled to Brazil apparently close to a ‘fighting fund’ bailout that would secure their future.<\/p>\n
Vijay Mallya, for one, was denying he ever threatened to sit out races.<\/p>\n
“Why would we (boycott)?” the Force India supremo told reporters.\u00a0 “I may as well have stayed in England and saved all the expense.”<\/p>\n
But a meeting at Interlagos late on Saturday broke with no solution in place.<\/p>\n
“He (Bernie Ecclestone) just said ‘I’ll talk to Donald next week and get back to you’,” a frustrated Mallya reported.<\/p>\n
He is referring to Donald Mackenzie, the chairman of F1’s majority owner CVC, who had been in direct talks in the past few days with Lotus’ Gerard Lopez.<\/p>\n
But Ecclestone, the F1 chief executive, told BBC television on Saturday that CVC is only “the shareholder”, and any decisions would have to be made by “Formula One Management”.<\/p>\n
So with Caterham and Marussia out of business, the next endangered teams are restless.<\/p>\n
Writing in the Financial Mail on Sunday, F1 business journalist Christian Sylt said Force India’s ability to continue “as a going concern” is now in doubt amid millions in losses.<\/p>\n
But Ecclestone told reporters on Saturday that he has little sympathy for teams like Marussia and Caterham who sunk themselves under unsustainable debt.<\/p>\n
“People say F1 is in crisis,” he said.\u00a0 “Absolute nonsense.\u00a0 We’ve had a couple of teams in crisis.<\/p>\n
“People come and go.\u00a0 They (the teams) need to know how much is coming in and how much is going out.”<\/p>\n
So Saturday’s meeting ended with no promises of a handout, and Ecclestone advising teams to spend less rather than “hope somebody is going to subsidise you”.<\/p>\n
It seems plenty, however, was discussed during the meeting, including perhaps the idea of using the collapsed Marussia’s $40 million in unclaimed prize money for finishing ninth in the championship and redistributing it.<\/p>\n
Even Niki Lauda, the team chairman at dominant and powerful Mercedes, has a proposal.<\/p>\n
“In difficult economic times like these, where sponsors are hard to find, we need to help the small teams — this is also in our interest because they also need to spend money on tyres and engines,” he told German television RTL.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone has said contracts forbid him from simply giving more to the small teams, but Lauda proposed: “We should lend them a certain amount until they are in a position to give it back.”<\/p>\n
But Ecclestone declined to guarantee that the three nervous privateers – Lotus, Force India and Sauber – will all still be on the grid in 2015.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t say that.\u00a0 I hope they are,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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