Concorde Complications For Marussia

Marussia Sporting Director, Graeme Lowdon, has remained tight-lipped regarding the team's failure to sign the Concorde Agreement, despite the issue possibly costing the team millions. For a low budget team such as Marussia, they are beginning to enter dangerous territory, as Bernie Ecclestone continues to push them towards a deal.

Marussia's unwillingness to enter the current Concorde Agreement stems from Bernie Ecclestone's recent announcement. Bernie stated that he plans to alter the distribution of prize money, meaning that only the top ten teams receive money relating to their final constructors position. Consequently, the low budget Marussia outfit are appealing against these plans, realizing that missing a guaranteed injection of funds could spell imminent liquidation.Moreover, the team are supposedly frustrated to not be involved in the commercial agreements which were recently signed by the top ten constructors from 2012. Following the administration and liquidation of HRT, Marussia are the only team to miss out on the commercial benefits.
Reacting to the concerns, Bernie Ecclestone recently announced, "they [Marussia] don't have a commercial agreement because they are not in the top ten. We pay the top ten, that's what we do." However, Bernie has avoided the main issue at hand. Marussia are without a commercial deal with Ecclestone, and are currently outside of the yet to be finalized Concorde Agreement, meaning that even if they beat Caterham this season, they may not receive the prize money they would otherwise be entitled to. Subsequently, it is understandable that the team wish to manage the issues internally away from the eyes of the media.
Graeme Lowden supported this idea, giving a brief press conference, avoiding the details of the situation. He stated, "We can confirm we've not had any offer from CVC at all. At no time have we had any proposal. Our understanding is all the parties involved in negotiating a new Concorde are not making any comment regarding various topics being discussed. On that basis we feel it inappropriate to make any comment at all."