Caterham won’t carry on after 2014 if they don’t manage to close the gap to the midfield according to owner Tony Fernandes.
The outfit slipped back to 11th last year after being beaten by Marussia and has yet to score a single points during its four-years in the sport.
The Malaysian businessman has warned that should things not improve, he’ll walk away from Formula 1.
“If we are at the back, I don’t think we’re going to carry on,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “After five years and to get no points, there’s a limit to everyone’s patience, money…”
Caterham, along with Marussia and the now folded Hispania, were lured in by a proposed budget cap. That was however dropped and budgets remain in the hundreds of millions, leaving small outfits like Caterham struggling to match those ahead.
Fernandes warned that small teams are being forced out of the sport and Caterham, potentially along with others, could leave if the budget war continues.
“The sport has to examine itself,” he said. “I think if we are going to every race and are not competing, two seconds behind everyone else, then we haven’t made any progress. If we are not competing then we have got to seriously examine ourselves as to whether this makes sense.
“I am saying these things with the confidence that I think we will deliver. I would not be here otherwise,” he added. “But I am also being real that if we don’t, I don’t think anyone expects us to carry on being last. But we are fairly confident that we should see some progress.”
