Bernie Ecclestone slams Caterham's crowd funding project

Bernie Ecclestone

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has lambasted team Caterham’s crowd funding idea as a black mark for the sport. The British-based team are short by $4.1m and have asked the fans to help fund their next race which is due on November 23rd at Abu Dhabi. The team launched a #RefuelCaterhamF1 campaign on Friday last week and asked the fans to contribute any amount from £10 onwards. According to reports, the team raised close to $800,000 in the first day of the campaign.

Bernie Ecclestone furious with Caterham

Ecclestone, acting as a mediator in the dispute, was unimpressed by Caterham’s efforts. "We don't want begging bowls. If people can't afford to be in Formula One, they have to find something else to do," Ecclestone said.

He went on to add that smaller F1 teams should work strictly on the budget allocated to them else they open themselves to the risk of facing administration, "I don't know what they do with their money. I don't spend their money. We just give it to them. They have a contract until 2020. They know exactly what the terms are. So they have to run their business according to their income. If they spend more than they get, not a good way to run a business."

No shame in such a project

Despite Ecclestone terming it as a terrible idea, it’s probably the last resort to keep the team running. Marussia F1 ceased trading last week after going into administration last month. They were given a stipulated time period to find new investors but failed to do so. Caterham too were facing a similar prospect before starting their crowd funding campaign.

A few days ago, Caterham Sports administrator and interim Caterham F1 Team Principal Finbarr O'Connell revealed, "We are working non-stop to get the Caterham F1 Team back racing, initially in Abu Dhabi, but hopefully that will be just a stepping stone to get it back racing on a permanent basis, under new ownership."

The situation shows the glaring differences in the budgets that smaller teams have to do with compared to the big boys in F1. While Ferrari operated with a budget of close to £250m last season, Marussia had only £51m to work with. There is no surprise that smaller teams disband with the lack of money as Ecclestone refused to grant any money whatsoever to Caterham when asked. That being said, there isn’t anything else that the smaller teams can do to survive in the sport.