Force India F1 team appeals to Bernie Ecclestone for financial help

[CNR]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117869
Force India is in discussions with Bernie Ecclestone over financial support, but deputy team principal Bob Fernley insists it will compete in Formula 1's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

F1 has been embroiled in a debate over costs for months, with Force India, Sauber and Lotus leading a push for more assistance for small teams following Caterham and Marussia going into administration last year.

[Storm]

What? Mallya's airline is in deep shit (well bankrupt and not flying any more), he owes tonnes of money to state banks, Sahara is doomed as it's owner is in jail and has to pay millions of rupees to investors and even for his bail.
VM still owns a huge yacht though + his brewery and spirits business

[jens]

Yeah. Already looking at free practices you can recognize, what huge class differences have developed in F1. Mercedes well out in front, then Ferrari, Williams and maybe Red Bull also well clear of others. Also the smaller brother of Red Bull, named Toro Rosso, is starting to look good among other midfielders, as they have less financial issues even if they aren't exactly "rich". But Sauber, Force India, let alone Manor - all several seconds off the pace.

For the likes of Force India and Sauber it is not a race of results, but a race of survival this year. Regardless of which (smallish) results they manage to scrape on their way.

[Robinho]

Sauber and FI are both in deep shit, Sauber's testing pace is exposed and they are going to end up owing Giedo and Adrian millions. They have very few sponsors. They are also now going to reap the reward of assisting in getting rid of Caterham and nearly Manor as they are one/two steps closer to being last as a result. Not good business.

[Doc Austin]

It's time to start racing cheaper cars. These cars are cool and all, but there is not enough money on the planet to fund 20 of these things at $95 million apiece.

[zako85]

Solution: let the midfield teams race with customer chassis.

[AndyL]

Interesting to hear Christian Horner suggesting banning wind tunnels and everyone using a standardised CFD platform. It's a pretty radical idea but I think it has a lot to commend it. It would certainly save a lot of money, could give the smaller teams more chance to be competitive, and lower the barrier for new teams. It could also open the door to freeing up the technical regulations.

[Doc Austin]

If history is anything to go by, Bernie won't help any of these teams that are in trouble. He let the original Lotus operation vanish over a few million dollars, and later Brabham, which used to be his own team. Perhaps (but probably not) he has learned the importance of keeping the famous names in the sport, but even recently he stood aside and let Caterham go into bankruptcy. He did nothing to help Manor, who is still probably on shakey ground.

A lot of other teams have come and gone too, and no one ever received any help from Bernie. Meanwhile, Ferrari gets more money than anyone, even when they suck. They don't even need it, but the back of the grid never sees much money at all. It is no wonder the teams are on the verge of a rebellion.

The only answer is to cut the costs and run cheaper cars. You can't do much about the cost of travel or salaries, and other fixed expenses, but you can make the equipment cheaper to run. We need less complicated cars. Just this weekend Manor missed the race because they could not pay their software bill. How much software did a Cosworth DFV use anyway? Do we really need all of this billion dollar stuff just to race?

Look to Indycars for proof that fast cars can be built much more reasonably. Those cars cut 230mph laps at Indianapolis so how much faster do you really need to go?

I think something like the mid 90s CART package would be sensible, and still allow blinding speed and good technical development. what they are doing now with the ridiculous "green" hybrid systems is burning money for no good reason other than to appease the eco-whackos.

[jens]

If history is anything to go by, Bernie won't help any of these teams that are in trouble. He let the original Lotus operation vanish over a few million dollars, and later Brabham, which used to be his own team. Perhaps (but probably not) he has learned the importance of keeping the famous names in the sport, but even recently he stood aside and let Caterham go into bankruptcy. He did nothing to help Manor, who is still probably on shakey ground.

A lot of other teams have come and gone too, and no one ever received any help from Bernie. Meanwhile, Ferrari gets more money than anyone, even when they suck. They don't even need it, but the back of the grid never sees much money at all. It is no wonder the teams are on the verge of a rebellion.
.

Wasn't there once exception somewhere in the 2000s (2003?), when Bernie actually did financially help Paul Stoddart owned Minardi to avoid them going bankrupt and have less than 10 teams on the grid...?!

[Doc Austin]

Wasn't there once exception somewhere in the 2000s (2003?), when Bernie actually did financially help Paul Stoddart owned Minardi to avoid them going bankrupt and have less than 10 teams on the grid...?!

Maybe. I honestly don't remember, but if so, like you say it was an exception.