05/02/2015
NEWS STORY
Hopes of Marussia's return to the grid in 2015 have been dashed by the F1 Strategy Group, which met in Paris today.
Meeting to discuss a number of issues relating to the future of the sport, the Strategy Group, which comprises six leading teams, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone, also discussed the possible return of the British outfit.
However, whereas at its previous meeting in Abu Dhabi in December, it had given the green light to Caterham and Marussia running their 2014 cars this season, if it would allow them to continue, it is understood that at least one team has now gone back on the proposal. Naturally, with just five weeks before until the cars take to the track for FP1 in Melbourne, it would be impossible to produce a new nose far less a whole new car for the new (for 2015) regulations.
While sceptics will argue that the reality of the situation is that the teams are more interested in the (rumoured) £35m prize money the team was owed, the fact is that the hopes of a team and its employees and fans have been dashed, just 24 hours after it was revealed that the team would exit administration on 19 February, the day the first Barcelona test gets underway.
The news follows today's revelation that all attempts to save Caterham have also failed, the Leafield based outfit's assets to be sold at a series of auctions.
Caterham and Marussia, albeit under different names, entered the sport in 2010, encouraged by the promise of a budget cap that would go some way to levelling the playing field. However, the bigger teams subsequently vetoed the proposal and after that it was merely a question of when, as opposed to if, the two teams would go under - the third new team, Hispania, having gone under at the end of 2012.
With just eight teams contesting this week's test at Jerez, fans got a glimpse of how bare the grid could look unless something is done to control spending. Force India, one of three teams extremely vocal at the end of 2014, and now a member of the Strategy Group having finished sixth in the 201 standings, was missing, and whilst it insists its new car will debut at the second Barcelona test, speculation over its future continues. Speculation which in itself undermines the teams - and the sport.
Chris Balfe