Other teams more likely to quit than Toyota – Howett

(GMM) There are other teams that are more likely to pull out of formula one in the near future than Toyota, its team president John Howett insisted at Suzuka on Friday.

The Japanese marque's ongoing participation has been the subject of intense speculation, but the signs in the last two days indicate that Toyota is set to stay on the grid in 2010, albeit perhaps with a drastically reduced budget.

Howett told reporters: "I think there is a lot of uncertainty about a lot of teams to be honest, we seem to be the focus of everybody's attention.

"But to be blunt, there are a lot of teams that on the inside we hear rumors of that are more severe than our condition."

Cologne based Toyota has signed the binding 2010-2012 Concorde Agreement, but the team's 2010 budget can only be approved at a November 15 meeting of its parent company's executive committee.