Marussia bosses back idea of reviving budget cap for Formula 1

With the then Virgin team having originally entered F1 under budget cap rules, it has found its chances of making progress hampered by the high costs still so prevalent in the sport.

However, with Ecclestone now suggesting that teams may need to be saved from themselves by a budget cap, Marussia sporting director Graeme Lowdon thinks such a move would be great for every team - not just his own.

"The attraction for us as a team coming into F1, was that if the rules had not changed and the resources you can employ are limited, then there should be some reward for ingenuity and being clever," he told AUTOSPORT.

"But if this is the international championship of spending, then most teams are not equipped to excel in that field, and it is not clever - nor very relevant to the business world our sponsors live in. So anything that promotes cost control is a good thing."

Team principal John Booth backed the cost control move - but is sceptical over whether move to customer cars would be sensible.

"Cost control and a fairer distribution of the wealth will be a much better way of closing the field up and making the race exciting than the other idea that has been put forward of buying one-year old [customer] cars," he explained. "It sounds like a great idea but it has not been thought well through very well.

"If we went out and bought a Red Bull from last year - then that will be quicker than eight or 10 cars on the grid. Your Toro Rossos or Force Indias - who have done a great job with their cars - will suddenly find themselves shuffled down the grid. So unless there are 24 Red Bulls, it will not work."

* For a full interview with Marussia chiefs Graeme Lowdon and John Booth, where they talk about Marussia's progress, their hopes for the season and the future of a cost-controlled F1, click here.