Prodrive await new Concorde Agreement

Team boss David Richards had originally hoped to confirm details of his new operation in the summer, but with talks over a new Concorde Agreement stalling he has not been able to give the final green light.

That is because the new Concorde Agreement contains details of the new financial payments due to teams, as well as making it clear exactly what revenue customer teams will be entitled to. Without those figures, Richards is unable to sign off his deal completely.

"We are there, but there are lots of issues surrounding the validity of the Concorde Agreement," Richards told autosport.com about the progress with his team.

"It is those sort of things that leave question marks at the moment, and they need to be resolved. Every other aspect of it is cleared up."

Talks between F1 team principals and the sport's chiefs are continuing in a bid to finalise the Concorde Agreement.

But progress is slowed by disputes over the financial settlement, the definition of a constructor and there is also believed to be some argument over Ferrari's privileged position because of their history in the sport.

Although sources have suggested that FIA president Max Mosley offered the teams at Spa the possibility of continuing to use the current Concorde deal for another year to allow more time for a fresh agreement to be framed, the teams are still pushing for a new version for next season.

But with those discussions perhaps going on into the winter, it means there is the possibility that Prodrive's announcement may be several months away.

When asked if he may have to wait until then to make an announcement, he said: "I don't know. That is not the view of some of the key people involved, they believe it can be resolved quite quickly."

Richards is understood to have agreed a supply of customer cars from McLaren, although he has refused to confirm any details on how far the operation has progressed.

"I am not going to comment on what I have done and what I haven't done," he said. "There is only this element (the Concorde Agreement) of it to be resolved in my opinion."