Penske considering a return to F1

With the FIA having announced this week the new 'low-cost' regulations that it will introduce from the start of 2008, speculation has been mounting that a number of independent teams are close to giving the green light to joining the sport.

And high-level sources have revealed that Penske boss Roger Penske has already approached Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and told him that if budgets can be cut to around $80 million (USD), then he is ready to enter the fray.

That budget target fits in exactly with the level at which FIA president Max Mosley is setting to allow teams to be competitive against the might of manufacturers - some of whom are happy to spend up to five times that amount.

Mosley all but confirmed the Penske approach in an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe, even though he did not specifically name the team.

"At the moment, F1 is too expensive," he said. "A big private team, very well known in America, recently told Bernie: 'We want to join F1, but only if we can do it with a budget of 80 million dollars' - because that is the level at which that team can make a profit. Frank (Williams) is now thinking along the same lines, Ferrari too..."

Mosley has claimed that there are up to six organizations outside of F1 who are believed to be considering entering a team in the future. BAR boss David Richards' Prodrive operation and the Japanese Direxiv organisation have both gone public in saying that they are also looking at F1.

Mosley said: "There are three, perhaps even four people who are very well known - I'll leave it to you to guess their names, who want to join F1, but who are currently unable to because of the costs involved.

"And if we manage to reduce the costs, to 100 to 120 million dollars, for a reasonable budget, they will come. They are independent teams, who therefore have to earn their living from sponsorship. They do not want to lose money in F1.

"They are racing people. They are from the milieu; they have money or access to money. If I count them all, in fact, there are at least six who have this project in mind, including three, as I see it, or even four, who are serious. They have two years ahead of them in which to prepare. But they must make a decision at the beginning of 2006 if they want to compete in 2008."

Penske, who currently compete in the Indy Racing League, NASCAR and the ALMS, took part in 30 Formula One race between the 1974 Canadian Grand Prix and the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix.

They took one victory, at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix, with John Watson at the wheel.