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#161742
From F1 Live:

Williams is reportedly opposed to BMW Sauber receiving a guaranteed 14th team entry for 2010 because it wants to secure the Swiss outfit's major long-term Malaysian sponsor Petronas.

Team chief Sir Frank Williams has said publicly that he opposes the expansion of the grid from 26 to 28 cars because the latter is too high a number, while not enough is known about BMW Sauber's new mysterious owners Qadbak.

However, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claims the Grove based team's resistance is actually about money, with the Malaysian oil company Petronas wanting to stay in Formula One beyond 2009.

Interestingly, the German magazine said Petronas would prefer to stay with BMW Sauber rather than switch to the new Malaysian-owned Lotus team.
Should BMW Sauber drop off the grid, Williams would therefore be near the top of the list for Petronas as an established and reliable team with an affordable sponsorship rate card.

The report coincides with a newspaper article in Britain's Daily Telegraph claiming that Williams' finances "are far from pole position".

In 2010, the team will no longer have the Royal Bank of Scotland's $20m sponsorship, having already lost the $30m deal of the failed Icelandic retail group Baugur.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International
#161752
At least this time Williams aren't on their own, especially as there are still big question marks over the team and especially Quadbak.
#161757
Well mmmm, don't know what to say about that. Williams do need sponsorship to survive so they need to do anything they legally can to get it.
#161829
Whatever it takes to get an advantage in F1; if budgets are to remain astronomical next season then I don't blame Sir Frank for doing what's best for his team. Especially with AT&T pulling their sponsorship and not having a replacement. Also Sir Frank also has a point about the legitimacy of the new Qadbak investments ownership of Sauber!
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