The team which finishes 11th in the constructors’ championship will no longer receive a share of the prize money under the new agreement.
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he has cut the prize money for the 11th team from $10 million (£6.5m) to zero under new agreements signed by all the teams individually except Marussia – which has finished 11th or lower in the championship in every season it has competed.
Talking to the Telegraph about the change, the 82-year-old explained that it was an agreement made with former-FIA president Max Mosley, which can now ended.
“They [Marussia] don’t have a commercial agreement because they are not in the top ten,” he said. “We pay the top ten, that’s what we do.
“For three years we did something different because we had an agreement with Max but from now on we will pay the top ten and that is it.”
The Banbury-based team currently occupy tenth in the WCC ahead of Caterham, therefore it might not be bad news for them if they can hold onto the position.
The change does however benefit the top teams, with the prize fund – valued at $698.5 million (£451m) in 2012 – increasing from 50 per cent to 63 per cent under the revised agreements.
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