Despite the withdrawal of Super Aguri, thereby reducing the F1 grid to ten teams, Toyota's John Howett and Honda's Ross Brawn remain confident that new teams will come into the sport in the future.

Asked if a manufacturer might enter the sport in the same way as Toyota, starting an F1 team from scratch, Howett said: "Yes. I think if you look at tracks demand for Grands Prix is higher than supply. We're seeing a lot of countries bidding for it and although economic hardship prevails for Western Europe, we still have to say that India is a booming market, China is a booming market, Russia is growing also, for us it's the biggest market now in Europe.

"I foresee that from these countries, where there is very strong economic strength, there is the potential for teams to enter Formula One. It is technically challenging and it probably also depends on what those backers or potential entries perceive as Formula One and the benefit it can offer. So it probably also has some relevance as to the future positioning of Formula One as a sport."

Asked if he thought other companies might be willing to invest as much as Toyota, he replied: "I believe there could be companies, very significantly resourced companies, interested to join and potentially other new developing manufacturers."

However, Howett was referring to manufacturers, but what about independent teams, the Williams, the Minardis and Super Aguris of this world which were once the staple of F1.

"It's difficult to judge really," said Howett. "It's difficult to enter Formula One these days, if you need to build up from scratch and if you need to build your own car. It's not impossible and maybe there is a chance that more manufacturers are coming. I think there is a more intense fight due to the manufacturers' involvements and their teams. Most of the manufacturers have their own teams in the meantime, which is good for Formula One, but I think a complete independent team for the future has to try jump very, very high to make it into Formula One. Not impossible, but maybe not very likely in my view, in the next couple of months, weeks, whatever."

"I pretty much go along with what John said," added Brawn. "I think it's extremely difficult to see a privateer coming in because of the investment and the facilities needed, but it's viable for a lot of manufacturers at the moment, there's no reason why it shouldn't be viable for other manufacturers in the future, particularly the expanding market for Formula One. Different countries are now starting to establish our sport, I think there are a lot of opportunities from that direction in the future."

And from someone who has first-hand knowledge of the independents' plight...

"As a privateer, if a privateer was trying to enter, financially you would find it very difficult right now," added Frank Williams, "assuming you read the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. To raise money, to raise capital and I would imagine that's what Aguri's problem was. He just couldn't find the money. We have a Japanese driver, never yet found a penny of sponsorship for him in Japan, and that's much cheaper than actually creating a team."