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 Speaking after the governing FIA said the predicament of Marussia
and Caterham showed the need for cost-cutting measures, Kaltenborn
said she was 'beyond frustration' with how the situation had
developed.
"It's one thing to just talk about this terrible scenario that some
teams are not going to be there but for the sport and the people
responsible for the sport to have let it come that far is extremely
disturbing," she told reporters at the U.S. Grand Prix on Thursday.
"Some stakeholders and people are just not willing to understand
where the problem lies," added the Indian-born principal, whose own
Swiss-based team is facing considerable financial challenges.
"What we really need to look at, and we as a team have been saying
for so long, is you have to get the figures right in the sport. I
think it's a real shame that we have turnovers of billions of
dollars and as a sport, as a community, we are not capable of making
sure that 11 teams survive."
 Formula One has annual turnover in excess of $1.5 billion but more
than half that goes to the commercial rights holder, with private
equity group CVC the largest shareholder.
The teams share some 47.5 percent but only the top 10 get a share of
the prize money and payments are based on performance and vary
considerably.
ECONOMIC BALANCE
Former FIA president Max Mosley warned this week that more teams
could go bust unless the revenues were shared more equally to ensure
all could compete.
The FIA issued a statement on Thursday questioning the "economic
balance" of the championship and pointing out that it had warned
repeatedly of the need to cut costs.
Caterham and Marussia, both tail-end teams, are absent from this
weekend's race in Austin and in danger of folding completely due to
considerable debts.
That leaves just nine teams and 18 cars, the lowest at a race
weekend since 2005.
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The FIA announced last year that it wanted to introduce a cost cap
in 2015, but in April the governing body's president Jean Todt said
the plan had been scrapped because the leading six teams, who form
part of the decision-making F1 strategy group, were opposed.
Todt said then that the governing body could not impose a cost cap
and measures would have to be introduced instead through the
sporting regulations.
Commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has given both teams
dispensation to miss races while they try to find buyers. The
Brazilian Grand Prix is the weekend after Austin, with Abu Dhabi the
final race later in November.
Teams that miss races are, however, in breach of contractual
obligations to compete in the entire championship and also forfeit
prize money payments.
The FIA said stewards had decided that both teams were in breach of
the regulations but had decided not to impose any penalties due to
their financial circumstances.
Germany's Nico Rosberg, who is challenging Mercedes team mate and
championship leader Lewis Hamilton for the title, said the human
aspect of the crisis must not be ignored.
"It's a very negative impact, mainly for the people who are working
at Caterham and Marussia. That is the most important part of all
this, for their families and everybody that's tough. That's the
worst part."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis/Greg Stutchbury)
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