HONDA F1

Nick Fry has urged F1 to focus its attention of enticing car manufacturers to the sport, saying costs mean privateers struggle to survive.

The downfall and demise of Super Aguri prior to the Turkish GP weekend means that just ten teams remaining in this year's Championship, four of which are privateers: Williams, Force India, Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

However, the latter's position on the grid is in jeopardy after Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz announced that he was selling his share in the team.

Rule changes in 2010 mean that Red Bull, Toro Rosso's sister team, will no longer be able to provide Toro Rosso with custom cars and so Matechitz reckons there is no need to run two teams.

Should the sale not go ahead it could mean the F1 grid would drop to just nine teams, however, Fry believes the sport should focus on getting manufacturers to replace the out-going privateers and not bring in more independent outfits.

"The first question to answer is, 'Is F1 any place for a not-very-well funded privateer team?'" he told Autosport magazine.

"In this sport, there is a history of teams working at the margins that invariably fall off the bottom, and I think it will ever be so.

"The real mission for F1 is to attract a Volkswagen, an Audi or another big consumer business into the sport and not attempt to bring in more privateers, who may end up in the same position as teams like Arrows and Prost.

"Privateer teams enter on the basis that they can afford the first season - but invariably can't generate the revenue to continue into their second or third years.

"If you can't afford to compete, you shouldn't be here."