Cosworth are hoping to add a fifth team to its engine supply for 2011 as a 13th team will join the grid as of next season.
However, the head of Cosworth’s F1 division, Mark Gallagher expects competition from Renault, who have also shown an interest in supplying a third team besides themselves and Red Bull.
“The obvious solution [for Renault] is actually the 13th team that is coming into Formula 1,” Gallagher told Reuters.
“My gut feeling is that it is probably a Cosworth-Renault competition to supply the 13th team – it certainly wouldn’t be a problem [for Cosworth] to step up to the mark again and do it for next season.”
There has been talk that both Lotus and Williams are looking to jump from the under-performing Cosworth engine to Renault power for 2011, however both teams have denied this.
Gallagher also denied the reports that Cosworth were being put up for flotation on the stock exchange after impressive profit forecasts.
“This is pure speculation and we kind of accept that this will happen from time to time,” he explained.
“We are seeing something like 30 percent year on year growth and that’s not all down to Formula 1; as a result of that we are often the target of various approaches and then you get the media speculation that comes on from that.”
Discussion about this post