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MPH: Mark Hughes on...

Bring out the Branson

HERE'S SOMETHING that might have happened. Recently. An F1 team is left in the lurch by the sudden withdrawal from the championship of the parent company. A buyer is desperately being sought.

Not only is the management working hard on finding a new owner for the team, so is the sport's commercial rights holder, as it's in the interests of the championship to have as many teams as possible in these difficult times - and it gives him some potential leverage in the ongoing battle for long-term control of the sport.

The current team unity represented by FOTA is a very worrying thing for the commercial rights holder. The teams are effectively contracted only until the end of 2012. Beyond that, there's a real prospect they could go it alone without him. But they need to remain united, and they know this. If just one team switches allegiance, the power of that unity will quickly crumble.

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