"It would be much better for F1 to take the NFL model," said team principal of Formula 1 minnows Marussia John Booth while speaking to autoX. "Where every team has equal equity in the championship."
Life is not easy for F1 teams who find themselves at the wrong end of the grid these days. A team needs to finish in the top ten for two consecutive seasons in order to get a share of the sport's prize fund, which is set aside for the teams by the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone.
Marussia F1 got a boost in the Japanese Grand Prix when driver Max Chilton managed to finish ahead of both cars from tail-end rivals Caterham F1 as well as his own team-mate Jules Bianchi.
The result was seen as a boost for the team to secure tenth in this year's F1 constructors' championship that would lead to them being eligible for a share of the prize fund.
However, it's a system that hits a new team like Marussia F1 hard. "It's not easy to compete in F1," said Booth in the paddock of the Buddh International Circuit ahead of the Indian Grand Prix today. "We operate on the smallest budget by far and we have to keep fighting."
Booth did not, however, hold out much hope for the 'ideal' equity model of the National Football League (NFL) ever being implemented in F1. Even though it is understood that Ecclestone is well versed with the financial models followed by sports leagues around the world.
"What I would like to see is a progressive change to that system," said Booth. "But in the current set up I would consider that to be very unlikely."
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