U.S. Grand Prix boycott averted
AUSTIN, Texas -- Threats of a boycott by some of Formula One's smaller teams were quashed Sunday when Force India, Sauber and Lotus started the United States Grand Prix.
The issue -- and the surprisingly small 18-car field -- isn't likely to fade away during the final two races of the F1 season, however.
Had the boycott taken place, six cars would've been pulled from the race, dropping the field to its lowest since another USGP debacle -- the 2005 USGP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in which just six cars raced and fans stormed out in anger. It's believed to have been the beginning of the end for the USGP at IMS, which parted ways with F1 after the 2007 USGP.
The issue then was tires. The issue now is money.
"I think I'm beyond the stage of frustration," Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said during a press conference Friday. "I'm first of all very disappointed because it's one thing to always talk about this terrible scenario that some teams are not going to be there but that's the sport as such, and the people responsible for the sport -- to have let it come that far -- is extremely disturbing."
The comment was seen as a swipe at F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who riled owners of smaller teams Friday when he said F1 needs those teams as long as they aren't carrying "begging buckets."
"We need them if they are going to be there performing properly and not moving around with begging buckets," Ecclestone told Sky Sports F1.
In the days leading up to the USGP, two teams -- Caterham Racing and Marussia -- ceased operating because of financial difficulties. It also started talk that Force India, Sauber and Lotus would pull their cars from the grid before the start of the third annual running of F1 at Circuit of the Americas.
If that would have happened, F1 and its governing body, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) would have been in breach if its contracts with broadcasters, which require at least 16 cars start each F1 race.
Ecclestone bristled at the boycott talk. "Forget all that crap," he told The Guardian on Saturday. "They will be racing. I give you a guarantee. But I worry if they will be racing next year."
Indeed, all three teams and all six drivers -- Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, Sauber's Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez and Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado -- started the race Sunday.
For its part, Lotus indicated throughout the weekend that it had no intention of boycotting the race, repeating this tweet Saturday:
After Sunday's race, just two races remain on the F1 schedule -- the Brazilian Grand Prix on Nov. 9 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Nov. 23. Whether more teams drop out, Ecclestone doesn't seem terribly concerned.
"It could go down to 14," he told Sky Sports F1. "If we lose another two teams, that is what will happen. I can't predict if it won't or it will. But if it is 18, no drama at all."