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Gian Carlo Minardi has criticised the decision of the Strategy Group to block Marussia—now known as Manor—from fielding a 2014 car for the season ahead. Certain teams, including Force India, as reported by BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, were against allowing the team to compete in such a manner.

Writing on his website, the founder of legendary Italian minnows Minardi said of the vote:

Opposing small teams hope to split up the amount due to Marussia, but perhaps they did not count to ten. Get rid of the two Cinderellas, Marussia and Caterham, it means shortening the grid. Consequently, last line would be occupied by teams with far greater budgets and ambitions (see Force India itself, Sauber and Lotus), with commercial consequences and in terms of image to be verified.

Referring to the time when F1 was starting to attract the attentions of major manufacturers in the years coming up to the turn of the millennium, Minardi went on to argue that the sport needs smaller teams with more interest in racing than profits. He wrote:

This situation reminds me of the ’96-’97 seasons, when I defended very strongly the importance of small teams. I argued that without teams participating with great passion but limited means—hoping, who knows, to find the right funds for the future—in the last row, there would inevitably be finite big manufacturers. [It's a situation] that has repeatedly occurred in the 2000s. The manufacturers are not waiting years to grow and achieve positive results; they have commercial and image objectives in the short and tangible consequence of the choices in those years, was that year after year we have lost almost all of them.

The manufacturers Minardi refers to are Toyota (2002-2009), Renault (2002-2010), Honda (2006-2008), Ford (as Jaguar, 2000-2004) and BMW (2006-2009). None remain as teams and only two are current engine suppliers.

For any form of continuity and security, F1 needs teams whose entire reason for being is to go racing. On the current grid, the only teams which fit this description are McLaren, Ferrari (mostly), Williams, Force India and Sauber.

Providing they can afford to, those teams will remain in the sport for as long as they exist. The rest—including Red Bull and Mercedes—survive only on the whim of their owners or the boards of their parent companies.

If F1 becomes an unattractive marketing tool, as it did for all the big names which fell by the wayside in the 2000s, there would be no reason for them to continue.

So rather than attempting to attract entries from big manufacturers and pandering to potentially transient partners, F1 should concentrate on keeping proper racing teams like Manor on board.

Otherwise, who'll be left to fill up the grid when the bean counters come to call?