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28 July 2010

Bernie Ecclestone says he wouldn’t be surprised if 'one or two' teams failed to make it to the end of the current F1 season.

Hispania Racing would appear to be the team currently facing the biggest issues after it was forced to shuffle its driver line-up to bring in Sakon Yamamoto – with the Japanese driver able to bring extra sponsorship money to help the Spanish team as it struggles to make it to the end of the season.

Rumours persist over other teams on the grid and the commercial rights holder said he felt it was possible that some wouldn’t survive until the end of the 2010 campaign.

“I would not be surprised if one or two of them did not make the end of the season,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “I think there are a couple of teams in Formula One who really shouldn’t be there. They are a bit out of their depth at the moment.”

Ecclestone’s comments come at the same time as the FIA is looking at applications for a 13th team to join the grid in 2011 but he said he felt the sport didn’t need more than 20 cars on the grid.

“All we ever want is 10 teams,” he said. “Lotus is a good name. I wouldn’t want to lose them. But in general this year has been a bit of a nuisance because it has cost money to keep these [struggling] teams in. It has cost a lot of money to pay for them to compete.

"The bottom line is they haven’t really and truly given us value for being there. If suddenly these teams don’t turn up at races then I don’t think the crowds will get any smaller, or the TV sets will turn off, or the newspapers will stop writing, will they?”