Lack of Marussia deal "a strange mystery" - MotorSportsTalk

Marussia chief executive Graeme Lowdon admits he is mystified why his team haven’t been offered a commercial deal to continue participating in Formula One.

Bernie Ecclestone has not offered terms to the team which finished 11th in the constructors’ championship last year.

“All teams should be treated equally,” Lowdon told The Times. “For whatever reason, that does not seem to be the case. We just don’t have a deal with the commercial rights-holder.”

“Why should that be? This sport is full of strange mysteries and that is one of them.”

Ecclestone announced in April only the top ten teams would receive payments as of this year. HRT, who finished 12th in the championship last year, went into administration over the winter.

Lowdon questioned the decision of F1 owners CVC to tilt the playing field against the smallest teams: “That board has to make a decision on how it treats companies it deals with. We are one of those companies, and it chooses to treat us differently. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but then I don’t work for CVC. Maybe they have a master plan.”

“All we ask for is a level playing field,” he added.

Marussia first entered Formula One in 2010 when the team was owned by Virgin Group tycoon Richard Branson. Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia later bought his stake in the team.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”

Lack of Marussia deal “a strange mystery”

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024