Prodrive not giving up on F1 ambitions

Richards had agreed a deal for a supply of customer McLaren-Mercedes cars for 2008, as well as sponsorship backing, but he could not press ahead with his entry because of the threat of legal action from rival team Williams.

But despite the disappointment of having to ditch his plans, Richards is still keeping a close eye on F1 developments to see whether or not Prodrive can resurrect their efforts in the future.

In particular, he is waiting to see if a new Concorde Agreement will clear up the legal situation surrounding customer cars to allow him to press ahead with another entry.

"We need to see what a new Concorde Agreement is going to say," Richards told this week's Autosport.

"I still believe F1 is the right place for Prodrive to be. Clearly the premise on which we put our entry in, those circumstances have changed dramatically now and everybody acknowledges that situation.

"If we cannot enter on that basis then so be it, but we need to know what a new Concorde Agreement will say.

"If, for instance, it determines you need to be a constructor then we need to understand what the definition of a constructor is: how many common components are going to be allowed in the future because what resource will we need to achieve that?

"I don't rule that out as being viable - it's a possibility and we will look at that. But we need to get to that position first, look at the new set of circumstances before making that decision."

Richards is obviously looking at possibilities to enter F1 in 2009, but there is uncertainty about whether the entry he was granted for next year will automatically be carried over to give him priority for the following years.

He added: "We have an entry for next year and I am in discussions with the FIA about the status for that. But it really comes down to the nature of the new Concorde Agreement and whether we can commit to that."