A1GP boss interested in buying F1 team

"I am looking around. I have been speaking to two or three different teams that are maybe available for sale," the South African businessman told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

"If I find the right deal that makes sense...and it's the right price and I think that I can get up to the top 10 positions in F1 - I'm not going to do it to come last - then I will conclude a deal," he added.

Toro Rosso and Spyker are both Ferrari-powered, although the latter team have just been sold for $124 million (61 million pounds) to a consortium led by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol.

Toro Rosso are half-owned by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, who also owns the Red Bull Racing team, and Austria's former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger.

Italy-based Toro Rosso showed their potential at the last race in China when German rookie Sebastian Vettel finished fourth.

"Toro Rosso are one of them," Teixeira, who attended last month's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, said of the possibilities. He said he had stepped aside for Mallya at struggling tail-enders Spyker.

"I want to be as close to the pinnacle of motorsport as I can," he said. "We don't want to be playing with it. If I do get involved with an F1 team, It will be as an insider to what is happening."

Thursday's announcement confirmed Ferrari as provider of engines and designer of cars for A1GP, the self-styled World Cup of Motorsport that involves teams from 22 nations competing through Formula One's European winter break.

Teixeira said A1GP, with the emphasis on driver skill rather than technology, would never be a rival to Formula One but could become more of a feeder series.