Bernie Ecclestone has expressed his regret for the demise of
Super Aguri, as the reduction of the
Formula 1 grid to just 20 cars from this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix has necessitated a change to the qualifying system.
The Japanese minnows finally admitted defeat on Tuesday, following months of financial uncertainty over the future of the Leafield-based outfit, with the collapse of a takeover bid involving both Dubai International Capital and the UK-based Magma Group last month dealing a significant blow to the squad's hopes of survival. Those hopes have now been terminally extinguished, and though Ecclestone underlined he could not see any other potential investors being willing to resurrect the now-defunct team, he admitted he sympathised with SA
F1's plight.
“I'm sorry to see anybody go,” the sport's supremo told the
BBC. “We had no problem with them, [but] I didn't want to put in $100m (£51m), which is what was needed. For somebody else it might have been okay, but it wasn't for me.
“If somebody could properly fund it then it would be good, but there are a lot of people walking around with a begging bowl.”
Super Aguri's withdrawal from the 2008 world championship leaves only 20 cars on the starting grid for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix back at the end of the 2005 campaign. As such, the qualifying format will be altered with immediate effect, so that five cars drop out of both Q1 and Q2 rather than six, with ten still going through to the final Q3 shoot-out.
Ecclestone added that he was open to offers if anyone else wished to enter the top flight in Super Aguri's place, stressing that F1 was not ‘a closed shop' even if he claimed he was happier with just ten teams.
“It leaves two spots open,” the 77-year-old acknowledged, “but we're not looking for twelve teams, we're looking for ten. It means we have a lot more room now because the teams are expanding like crazy with their hospitality units and their trucks and everything.
