May 29 (GMM) F1's potential entry list for 2010 swelled to five names on Friday, even if nine of the current teams are yet to lodge their paperwork by the midnight deadline.
USF1, Campos and former champions Williams had submitted their entries prior to May 29, which is the last day of the FIA's one-week registration window for next year.By mid afternoon on Friday, three more teams - all new ones - confirmed they have signed up: Lola, Prodrive and British F3 outfit Litespeed, whose bid is supported by the well-known engineer Mike Gascoyne.Litespeed boss Nino Judge also said he, like Team USF1, has paid the deposit for a supply of Cosworth's new 2010 customer engine."We wish all teams the very best whilst the decision process is taking place and look forward to the potential of being on the grid in 2010 and beyond," he said.It is expected that the rest of the existing teams, including Ferrari, will make the midnight deadline, but F1's official website reports that so far "just Williams have declared putting their name forward".FOTA, nor any of its member teams, would comment.Part of their reported compromise deal with the FIA is for a gradual arrival at Max Mosley's preferred 45m euro budget cap, with the cap to be 100m in 2010."The level of next year's cost cap has risen substantially since we originally considered entering," said Prodrive's David Richards, expected to rename his entry Aston Martin in 2012."However everyone appears committed to major reductions in future years and when one takes into account the transition proposals for new teams we are confident that we now have the opportunity to be both commercially viable and competitive," he added in a media statement.The 2010 entry list will be published by the FIA on June 12.
