Caterham’s acting team boss and administrator has admitted time is running out to rescue the ailing backmarker.
Although it was Caterham and not Marussia that successfully returned for the 2014 finale in Abu Dhabi, Bernie Ecclestone said this week that only Marussia appears able to survive into the 2015 season.
"Caterham, I don’t think there is much chance of saving them," said the F1 supremo, "but Marussia there is a chance."
Acting Caterham team boss Finbarr O’Connell, however, who doubles as the administrator, is more hopeful.
"As long as there are people there who have got a real possibility of doing something, I’m not going to close it down," he told Reuters on Thursday.
But O’Connell admitted that Caterham, who unlike Marussia will not collect millions in official prize money if it is rescued, is therefore "much more difficult" to sell.
And just over a week before winter testing begins, he also said time is running out.
"I’m very conscious that a time will come when it will not make sense for anybody to invest large sums of money in racing the Caterham team for the 2015 season," said O’Connell. "Time will just run out."