[kipper]

Personally, I don't think the issue over finance is terribly significant. As has been pointed out in earlier responses Sheik Marktoum could probably fund the championship from the money found down the back of his settee. The issue over non-payments of bills seems to stem from the antics of Russia, which is probably no surprise given there repeated non attendence and performance defecit. Also, the championship is only a few races old and needs time to a) inform people of its existence, particuarly of those from a non-motorsport tradition and b) get a reputation as a championship that people want to watch, which could contribute to the poor crowds at the moment, bearing in mind that as far as I know the biggest crowds were at Brands and Eastern Creek (admittedly Lausitz would appear to be an exception).