Marussia and Caterham "may not be the last" Formula One teams to go bust given the incredibly high cost of Grand Prix racing, the former head of world motorsport's governing body believes.
Anglo-Russian outfit Marussia became the second team in four days, following Caterham, to enter administration on Monday.
Marussia, whose lead driver Jules Bianchi is fighting for his life after a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix, will miss the US Grand Prix on Sunday while administrators look for new finance.
Administrators took over the Caterham team on Friday and they will also miss the US race in Austin, Texas and the following Grand Prix in Brazil while they too go in search of new owners.
Max Mosley, the former president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), told BBC Radio Five he was saddened but not surprised by recent events.
"It's not a fair competition any more," said Mosley, who headed up the FIA from 1993-2009.
"The big problem is that the big teams have so much more money than teams like Caterham and Marussia.
"In the end, they (teams such as Caterham and Marussia) were bound to drop off -- and they may not be the last."
According to the BBC, leading teams such as Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes spend more than STG200 million ($A365 million) each per year on their Formula One programmes.
By contrast, Marussia and Caterham, perennial backmarkers since entering the sport in 2010, manage on less than a third of that sum.
Mosley's plans for a cost cap in 2009 were rejected and a similar scheme designed to take effect from next season fell through earlier this year.
However, Mosley said the present system was unsustainable, especially as the absence of Marussia and Caterham will leave only nine teams and 18 cars on the grid in Austin - the first time this has happened since Monaco in 2005.
"From a sporting point of view, the sport should split the money equally and then let the teams get as much sponsorship as they can," said Mosley.
"A team like Ferrari will always get more sponsorship than Marussia, but if they all get the same basic money, then they all start on a level playing field, particularly if you have a cost cap where you limit the amount of money each team is allowed to spend."
Mosley added it was no coincidence that Marussia and Caterham had experienced financial meltdown this season, following the introduction of environmentally-friendly engines at double the cost of previous units.
Following Austin, there are two further rounds of the 2014 championship remaining, in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi.
Marussia are unlikely to make it to the Brazil Grand Prix on November 23 however as all the cars are being transported by air straight from Austin to Sao Paulo.
They won their first championship point this year at the Monaco Grand Prix where Bianchi came ninth before the driver's crash into a recovery vehicle at Suzuka on October 5.
The latest communique on his health, released two weeks ago, said he was in critical condition.
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