PARIS (AP) — Caterham and Marussia have both been included on next year’s entry list for the Formula One world championship despite recently going into administration.
Both teams are in danger of losing their F1 status after being given special dispensation to miss last weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix and this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Last week, Marussia team’s move into bankruptcy protection, four days after Caterham did the same, leaving only 18 cars on the grid in Austin, Texas, the smallest in nearly a decade.
Caterham has re-entered under its company name of 1 Malaysia Racing Sdn Bhd, which owns the team’s F1 rights. Marussia has re-branded and will be known as Manor Grand Prix if it returns to the grid next season, although unlike Caterham its entry is subject to confirmation.
Motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, released the list on Wednesday.
Under FIA regulations, the entry fees must be paid by the end of this month. Entering on the 2015 list, even provisionally, gives both teams a greater chance of securing a prospective buyer in the meantime.
”With a team having an entry in the championship it makes them a far more viable proposition for us to do a deal. It’s absolutely essential,” Finbarr O’Connell, one of Caterham’s co-administrators representing Smith & Williamson, said. “We’ve explained to the FIA and FOM (Formula One Management) we are looking for a new owner, but the paperwork for the entry has been done. We’re hoping the new owner will then pick up things like the fees and … finalize the 2015 design.”
O’Connell is confident that Caterham will take part in the final race of the season, the double-points bonanza in Abu Dhabi in two weeks’ time.
”I’m hoping when the sport is in Abu Dhabi we will have finalized a deal before then, or at that point,” he said. “I’m very, very hopeful the team will be in Abu Dhabi. We are making arrangements to go to Abu Dhabi as we speak.”
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