Marussia are currently without a commercial deal with Bernie Ecclestone – the only team on the grid in such a position – and chief executive Graeme Lowdon believes they’re being treated unfairly.
The relatively new outfit currently resides in tenth position ahead of Caterham. Usually such a position would, come the end of the season, be rewarded with a payout of around £35 million.
Marussia however aren’t entitled to a penny of the prize fund no matter where they finish – a situation which isn’t helping the team’s financial situation – because Ecclestone is yet to offer them a deal.
Lowdon described it as a “mystery” and blamed the sports owner, CVC, for treating them differently to their rivals.
“All we ask for is a level playing field,” he told the Times. “All teams should be treated equally. For whatever reason, that does not seem to be the case. We just don’t have a deal with the commercial rights-holder. Why should that be? This sport is full of strange mysteries and that is one of them.
“That board [CVC] has to make a decision on how it treats companies it deals with. We are one of those companies, and it chooses to treat us differently. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but then I don’t work for CVC. Maybe they have a master plan.”
