Marussia’s attempts to compete in this year’s Formula One world championship have suffered a major setback after rejection of their request to use last year’s car in 2015.
The cash-strapped British-based team went into administration and missed the closing three GPs of 2014 in the United States, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
Marussia still hope to come out of administration this month but the decision not to allow them to use last season’s car has closed the door on them lining up on March 15 for the season-opening race in Melbourne.
Their request was turned down on Thursday by the Formula One Strategy Group meeting in Paris.
“They wanted to come in with last year’s car and it didn’t get accepted,” F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told Britain’s Independent newspaper on Friday.
“It needed all the teams to agree and there were three or four of them that didn’t agree.”
The decision was taken the same day as fellow F1 backmarker Caterham’s assets were put up for sale, meaning no return for them in 2015 after they also went into administration in October.
Reports in Britain suggest Marussia are still hoping new owners can be found to get them racing sometime this year.
Under F1 rules, a team is allowed to miss three races during a season, meaning they could still line up in Bahrain in April.
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