Christian Horner: Red Bull 'not responsible' for small teams

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said Formula 1's front runners have no obligation to help smaller teams.

Marussia went out of business this month and Caterham's future is in doubt after going into administration.

"It's not our responsibility. We are a team competing in a championship," Horner told BBC Look East.

"You don't see Man United helping QPR. Our obligation is to race and to compete within the rules."

Neither Marussia, who went bust on 7 November, or Caterham have lined up on the grid for the last two races in the USA and Brazil.

Caterham are attempting to fund their entry into next week's season finale in Abu Dhabi through a crowd-funding project.

And while Horner believes measures need to be taken to help teams, he stopped short of saying the sport is in a mess.

"If you read the press it is. Obviously costs are too high and there's not enough income coming into the sport," he said.

The 2014 Brazilian GP had only 18 cars on the grid, with Marussia and Caterham both absent

"We have to get the costs under control - the costs of these power units and their associated costs.

"That will enable teams like Caterham and Marussia to be sustainable. Nobody wants to lose any teams and we hope we will have 10 teams next year."

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted at the beginning of the month that a poor distribution of money between teams was "probably my fault".

And a number of teams have argued that revenues are split unfairly in favour of the top teams, while Force India's deputy team principal Bob Fernley has accused leading teams of having an agenda against smaller teams.

"The rules are written by the governing body. It's the governing body that needs to grab hold of these rules with the promoter and say 'we need to address costs'," said Horner.

"We're supporting smaller teams by providing gear boxes and other components, as well as drivers in the past.

"It's not the responsibility of the big teams to sort out the finances and the regulations."

Horner, boss of the Red Bull team that won four consecutive championships from 2010-13, added it was not for the bigger teams to reduce their incomes.

"Teams are here to compete and not sponsor each other," he said.

"If the commercial rights holder wants to put more money into smaller teams that's their choice and responsibility."