Feature - Should fans be asked to step in to help rescue a team involved in a sport awash with money?

(Florent Gooden DPPI for Renault Sport F1)

Formula One is a sport in crisis. In the past three weeks we have seen two teams enter administration with one of those teams having been forced to close its doors on Friday and make 200 employees redundant.

It was announced on Friday that the Marussia F1 Team has ceased trading and made all of the staff redundant as the sport heads into the penultimate race of the 2014 Formula One season. The Banbury based outfit had be in line to earn as much as £60 million for scoring two points had they managed to finish the season in ninth place. 

The team will not receive a penny now however and that is why it has ceased trading and as a result of the administrators not being able to find a buyer for the team.

Meanwhile the Caterham F1 Team have resorted to a crowd funding campaign through Twitter called #RefuelCaterhamF1 in order for the team to raise the £2.35 million needed for them to make it to the season finale at Abu Dhabi on November 23. The team launched the campaign aimed at their fans and sponsors on Friday and have a week in which to get the money raised to allow them to go to Abu Dhabi.

The administrator appointed to oversee the sale of the team Finbarr O'Connell has stated that potential new owners have been impressed with spirit of the team and he is hopeful that the team will make it Abu Dhabi.

This situation SHOULD NEVER have been allowed to happen and it is absolutely crazy to expect fans and sponsors to raise money to enable a team involved in Formula One (which is meant to be the pinnacle of motorsport) to go racing.

The sport needs to take a good look at how it operates as expecting fans to give money to a project that may not happen is absolutely crazy and teams should be giving back to the sport not the other way around.

There is surely someway that the sport can come together to raise the money to enable Caterham to race is should NOT be up to the fans to come up with the money.

While Bernie Ecclestone has labelled the Caterham crowd funding idea as a 'disaster'. When it comes to the distribution of the money among the teams Mr Ecclestone has said that his hands are tied because of the contracts in place and that if it was up to him he would rip them up and start again.

It would be an absolute disaster if another team is allowed to cease trading and even if the Caterham plan does work it does not guarantee that the Leafield based outfit will be on the grid next season.

There is so much money in Formula One surely there is something that can be done from within the sport that would allow Caterham to continue. 

© Ben Johnston 2014