F1 In Turmoil? Marussia And Caterham To Miss United States Grand Prix

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that both Marussia and Caterham will miss the United States Grand Prix.

The news comes just one day after it was announced that Caterham has been taken over by administrators, who confirmed the team will be absent from the next two races in the USA and Brazil, whilst a new buyer is found.

With the next two rounds of the 2014 season being back-to-back races and the sport’s air freight leaving for Texas today, it is likely that Marussia will join Caterham on the sidelines for the Brazilian Grand Prix as well.

“Neither of those two teams, Marussia and Caterham, are going to go to America,” Ecclestone told Reuters.

The news means the grid at the Circuit of the Americas will drop to just 18 cars, the lowest number to start a race since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix.

Whilst Caterham’s future in the sport has been a major story over the last week, Marussia has been suffering similar financial struggles. The team ran just one car at the last race in Russia after Jules Bianchi’s serious accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Ever since the planned budget cap for the 2010 season - when both teams debuted in F1 - was scrapped, Marussia and Caterham have been in trouble. The two teams have failed to latch onto the midfield due to financial struggles and lack of resources.

A number of meetings and talks between teams have taken place this season in an attempt to agree on cost cutting measures. The smaller teams are obviously eager for changes to be put in place, but the larger outfits are not. With little progress being made, the current situation was inevitable.

It is a huge shame that the sport’s financial crisis looks set to force two teams not to race in the USA and Brazil, but hopefully solutions will be found, the teams will return, and changes will be made soon.