it's official - marussia is dead. meanwhile, caterham has taken to crowdfunding to try and live another day.
force india, sauber and lotus were threatening to boycott the usgp until they were assured just before the race that things would change.
something is seriously f'd up when a top-class sports league only has 11 teams with only 4 contenders, a spot taken by a contender's private feeder, and the rest either folding or seriously close to it. bernie's old-world system simply cannot work any more, not with annual budgets of several hundred million dollars.
nor would the premier league's system be possible. their aren't nearly enough interested parties, and the technological nature renders promotion/relegation totally unworkable.
team-owned (and sanctioned) leagues have been extremely successful in north america, although none are car racing. if the buyout price was split evenly, there's no way half of them could raise the money. besides, there's no way the haves would put themselves on equal footing with the have naughts.
f1 is borked and i think it's time the fia, as the series owner and regulator, started brute-forcing some corrective actions, like invalidating massively lopsided contracts and abandoning the flawed, superficial concept of every team being a unique manufacturer.