Bernie Ecclestone: Marussia to miss US GP

Marussia F1

Marussia F1 team will not take part in next week's US Grand Prix at the Circuit of Americas citing financial reasons, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed. The Banbury based outfit joins Caterham which was earlier been handed over to administrators, who in turn are looking for new buyers for the team. Apart from USA, Caterham will also miss the penultimate round of the season in Brazil.

"Neither of those two teams are going to go to America," the multi-billionaire boss of Formula 1 told Reuters. As a result only 18 cars will take part at the US Grand Prix.

The financial struggle of backmarkers raises the old argument regarding the inequitable distribution of $750 million prize money between 11 teams on the grid. The top teams grab a lion share of the revenue for the sake of being part of the sport for a considerable time, leaving the remaining teams with little money to spare.

In 2010, four teams joined the sport, but only three made it to the grid in Bahrain after US GP folded pre-season. HRT also quit the sport at the end of 2012 while the remaining two teams, Caterham and Marussia , survived only after a change of ownership. The future of these two squads remain uncertain.