F1 teams threaten to boycott USGP, Lotus says no

The new Hybrid F1 engines are very expensive and have driven costs up through the roof, bankrupting teams. The mental midgets of Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, along with the FIA, are all to blame. Fans hate 'green' race engines that sound horrible, and the new F1 engines certainly sound horrible. The thrill is gone, and so too will be the fans in coming years.

Formula One faces a potential walkout from Lotus, Force India and Sauber which would leave Sunday's US Grand Prix in ruins. With the sport already reeling from the collapse of Caterham and Marussia in the past week, the latest twist in events has created a full-blown crisis as the smaller teams demand clarification concerning the future of the sport.

Bob Fernley, the deputy team principal of Force India, said yesterday: "All options are open and have to be left on the table." Ultimately that would mean not taking part in Sunday's race.

"It's a very serious situation and teams want to know where they stand. F1 is at a crossroads. Teams have been driven out of the sport. How many more teams need to be driven out?

"The disenfranchised teams [not including the top six who are part of the recently formed Strategy Group] need to know where they stand. The sport is in a crisis and it's got to be looked at. It's a very serious situation."

Another executive told The Times: "It is 50-50 whether it happens but what else is there? The small teams have complained for months and warned what was going to happen but no one listened."

Any boycott would bring back memories of the 2005 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Only six cars raced after seven of the teams decided to pull out of the race after completing the first lap as they protested against unsafe tires.

However, the chief executive of the Formula One Group, Bernie Ecclestone, remained impassive when informed of the threat on Friday night. "If we lose another two teams that is what will happen. We need [small teams] if they are going to be there performing properly and not moving around with begging buckets," he said. The Guardian

Lotus owner denies F1 teams plan to boycott US Grand Prix

A threatened boycott of this weekend's United States Grand Prix by a trio of Formula One's smaller teams has been comprehensively denied. Reports have suggested Lotus, Force India and Sauber were considering pulling out of the race in Austin to send a defiant message to F1's commercial rulers they are no longer prepared to accept the financial folly that exists.

Without question there is anger and frustration in the paddock at the Circuit of the Americas following the demise of Marussia and Caterham who over the past eight days have both entered administration. The smaller marques are undoubtedly dismayed by the spiraling costs of simply fielding two cars, never mind trying to compete on any kind of footing with the bigger teams.

That is underlined by the considerable disparity in revenues as the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes overwhelmingly receive the lion's share of the £900m handed out by F1's commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone.

Yet suggestions Lotus, Force India and Sauber were prepared to make a stance in front of an expected 100,000 crowd and 350m global television audience are wide of the mark. Asked whether the trio of teams were planning to stage a boycott, the Lotus owner, Gerard Lopez, told Press Association Sport: "I've just found out about the story now, so my answer is no. I have to say I'm a bit surprised – but then nothing should surprise me in Formula One.

"What I can say is I've had a meeting with them (Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya and Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn) about the cash distribution and so on, and that's it. I'm not aware of this. I don't even know where this comes from, and that's the whole point."

Asked whether such a protest could happen, Lopez added: "A lot of frustration has built up. It is high, understandably to some extent. A lot of things have been said that have not been thought through, and it's time a bit of common sense comes in.

"There are a couple of things to take into account, and one of them is sadness going around at what has happened to Marussia and Caterham because it did not have to happen. And listening to people say we have to have a certain amount to compete in the sport, a figure that scares new manufacturers to come in, is ridiculous. Yet that's the reality of things right now.

"In a sport where $120m is perceived to be nothing, that is a pretty scary thought. Connected to that there is this frustration because it should not be this way. It's just a catastrophe. I look at it as a business person. Formula One is an asset that's worth a lot of money, but it's only worth a lot of money if it has diversity, a bit of everything that has been the fabric of Formula One."

Force India's co-owner, Bob Fernley, has suggested there is "an agenda" at hand between Ecclestone and the bigger teams to drive the smaller teams out of business.

Fernley said: "When you've a situation where costs are out of control and there isn't an equitable distribution of income, there's something going on because nobody in their right mind would run a business like that. Two teams have now gone and I think the commercial rights holder is comfortable in thinking there might be 14 cars next year. How many do they want to lose?

"He [Ecclestone] thinks there could be 14 cars, so the question is, if we are driving teams out of the business, to what agenda is it? What's the game? It's probably time to come clear with what the objectives are."

Lopez, however, has expressed doubts as to an agenda, but has made it clear there needs to be immediate steps taken to rectify matters. "I don't think there is an agenda – I sure hope there is none – but things have to drastically change in the next couple of weeks," he said.

"That's not because teams are going to be driven away, but because if you don't take a situation like this seriously, to change something, then you are never going to do it." The Guardian