Force India and Sauber have bitterly attacked the decision by Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One’s main shareholders, CVC Capital Partners, to turn their backs on the smaller teams.

Struggling outfits have been told there is no more money on the table as the sport appears to move inexorably towards customer cars in 2016 when the major names will provide all the cars on the grid.

Before that it seems certain Ferrari and Red Bull will run three cars next year to fill the holes left by Marussia and Caterham, who have fallen into administration.

Bob Fernley, Force India’s deputy team principal, said at Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix: “We were given a clear direction there is no money on the table. There is a very clear programme coming in. The goal is to move to customer-car teams and the three cars will be the interim. That would allow them to keep the numbers while the customer cars are brought in.”

The new American team Haas are set to be Ferrari’s first customers next year as the sport increasingly comes under the control of the big five: Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Williams.

It is likely to mean the end of teams such as Force India, Lotus and Sauber who have had their appeal for a more equitable share of the sport’s £1.6bn business turned down. The smaller teams are convinced a decision has been made to make F1 slimmer and more profitable before it is floated on the stock exchange.

Fernley said: “Again this comes back to short-termism for profit. Simply how much money can we generate for the shareholders of CVC. End of story. Sell it off and the consequences they don’t care about. They walk away from it, they’ve got the money in. It’s someone else’s problem. And the fans ? Irrelevant.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber’s team principal, said: “Basically it is the end of the fascination of F1. They are totally disregarding what the fans want. You are just destroying the whole series. It’s short-sighted business thinking. It’s going the way DTM [German Touring Car Masters] has gone and the fans are not interested in it. You will have five big teams and four losers, and maybe a team like ours, FI or Lotus can handle these situations better. One year good, one year bad. If that goes on for three years for them, they are out of the sport.”

Customers cars have no history in the sport and they would spell the end of the days when smaller teams such as Lotus – and even Jordan – were able to finish on the podium. From the point of view of those who run the sport it will be a lot easier to control. Asked if greed was killing F1, Gérard Lopez, the Lotus owner, said: “Gordon Gekko said ‘greed is good’ and look what happened to him. He ended up in jail. I’ve never threatened any kind of protest but this is a £1.6bn business and teams are going to the wall for the sake of a couple of tens of millions.

“Three-car teams will be the death of the championship. People just don’t seem to care enough about the sport to do something.”

The sport’s chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone, said: “The way forward is very easy – don’t spend as much. We are giving these teams collectively $900m and that’s enough.

“They have enough to survive but not in the way they are surviving. Start running the business like a business rather than a hobby.” He said there was no agreement on teams running a third car.

Before it comes in, the new shape of F1 must be approved by the strategy group. “They will get a clear majority there,” Fernley said, “then comes the F1 commission which would have to be unanimous for 2015, which it would be unlikely to be, but it could be a majority decision in 2016.”

A defiant Fernley added: “All this has done is strengthen the resolve of Force India, for sure, and Sauber to remain as constructors.”