Lotus insists F1 future not under threat

A number of suppliers are chasing outstanding debts, and an original hearing that was set for Monday has now been delayed until July 20 while further negotiations take place.

Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi said that it was unfortunate the matter had got into the public domain, but made it clear that things were on their way to being resolved.

"We have a couple of suppliers and we are negotiating with them," Gastaldi told Motorsport.com at the FIA Sports Conference in Mexico.

"We have everything under control, but these things should not happen. It is unfair to families who work in the factory know that we have these problems.

"But we are in an unexpected situation in terms of paying our bills."

F1 finances the issue

Gastaldi claimed that Lotus' problems were a legacy of F1's finances as a whole not being good enough to look after all the teams on the grid.

He believes that the bigger outfits are focused solely on their own interests, which means no time is spent trying to work out how best to keep the grid sustainable.

"The problem is that the teams are not all in the same boat or have the same agenda," he said.

"These famous Strategy Group meetings have repeated the same agenda 15 times, and have not advanced a single centimetre because there is no agreement. It is a problem of structure.

"Ultimately, if the big teams want to only see Mercedes and Ferrari on the track then everyone else will have to go."