"What we achieved in Austin was a good start," says Team Principal
Tuesday 25 November 2014 17:51, UK
Sauber Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn is hoping more progress can be made this weekend to resolve F1’s current financial crisis after a “good start” in Austin.
Marussia and Caterham both missed the United States GP giving Sauber, Force India and Lotus the impetus to press for a greater share of F1’s revenue.
“I think what we achieved in Austin was a good start,” Kaltenborn told Sky Sports F1.
“It was high time that we actually went out there, I think the points we make are very valid, they are very reasonable points and it was good that the other side, the commercial rights holder, acknowledged this and we had a basis to start a dialogue.
“We hope things can be speeded up and we can get to a point where action is taken because it is nice to start a dialogue and to have talks and agree on points but you have to react quickly.”
It was reported earlier in the week that a £100 million fund will be put up by controlling shareholder CVC to help struggling teams.
“What the situation is is that we have sent a proposal to the commercial rights holder, we are discussing that and we hope to make some further improvements over here so that we can really get some action within this season,” she added.
When asked if Sauber needed that money to survive Kaltenborn added: “I wouldn’t say it was a matter of survival but it would come in handy.”
With Ferrari receiving a bonus just for turning up which is more than some teams receive in prize money each season, it had been rumoured a challenge could be taken to the European Competition Committee. However, law graduate Kaltenborn does not feel that is necessary.
“Well, being a lawyer you have to be careful with these kinds of assessments off the top of your head," she said. "It all sounds very easy and logical but you have to look at the detail and you really would have to look at what the criteria are and do they apply to us or not.
“But I don’t think we should be going to that state; we are all sensible people in here, we all know that whatever we generate in here is through all of us being in there. I am very sure that four teams could not generate that much income and I don’t think we want to be a DTM at international level.”
It was announced on Friday that Marussia are to be wound up, whilst Caterham launched a crowd-funding project to raise £2.35 million so that they can race in Abu Dhabi.
“I think it is a very bad sign that we are sending out to the fans and everyone that is interested in the sport,” said Kaltenborn.
“The facts are we have turnover of billions of dollars and we are not as a sport in a position to actually maintain 11 teams. It is not about somebody having the right business model or not, there is enough there that can be distributed in a different way and you don’t have anybody at any end.”
