Formula One is on the edge

Formula One is currently on the edge, but for the pinnacle of motorsport that is considered as a stable situation.

The comments come from Force India’s deputy team principal Bob Fernley who believes that over the past 12 months the situation within Formula One is comparatively stable.

Last year we saw teams severely hit by financial problems.

Both Caterham and Marussia fell into administration and missed races towards the end of last season.

Other teams were said to be struggling and Formula One was moving to put its plan B together with the introduction of three car teams and customer cars.

That threat has receded and so there is currently far less politics in the media regarding the future of Formula One.

‘The customer cars were a way to overcome the issues of teams that were struggling and falling out of Formula 1,’ Fernley told Sky Sports.

‘At the moment, we’ve got a reasonably stable situation. But we’ve still got to address the finances of Formula 1 and get them better, so we keep away from anything like customer cars. But we’ve still got a long way to go on that yet.

‘I don’t think there’s any plans for customer cars and I still think it would be a disaster for Formula 1 if we went down that route.’

But as things have shown at Sauber and Lotus this season, it only takes one legal problem to send shockwaves through the paddock.

Whilst Sauber’s situation might have been relatively quickly resolved, for Lotus it would seem that a buy-out from Renault is the only way forward to save the team.

‘When I say stable, it’s on the edge, But it’s not as critical as perhaps it was this time last year when we were heading into Austin with Marussia and Caterham going.’