Budweiser to dump Williams F1 team

(GMM) Sir Frank Williams says he expects to lose at least one of his Grove based team's sponsors at the end of the season.

''Budweiser I think will go,' the 64-year-old was quoted as saying by 'Speed TV'.

But Williams, the team's wheelchair-bound co-owner and principal, denied that the US beer-brand's departure is due solely to the Cosworth-powered FW28 car's poor form in 2006.

He said Budweiser has also pulled out of a soccer deal, and are 'driven by share price', but admitted: ''Clearly we're not setting the world alight.''

It's not all doom and gloom for the English team, however, albeit after failing to win a single race since October 2004 or a championship title since 1997.

Insiders in the know are adamant that a semi-works engine deal with Toyota, to see Williams renamed 'Williams-Lexus' in 2007, is all but sealed.

After struggling with a customer engine in 2006, Sir Frank says hooking up with a carmaker is the only way to haul in major sponsors.

[Editor's Note: Toyota has a history of bringing sponsorship to any team they supply engines to. It is quite interesting that Toyota might use the Lexus name and go head-to-head against Toyota, parent company to Lexus. When Ford was asked to badge the spec Cosworth Champ Car engine with multiple badging from its family of companies, Ford's response was that "we do not want to beat ourselves." It is this sort of shortsighted thinking that sees a company like Ford awash in red ink while a forward thinking company like Toyota is flush with cash and making increasing profits each year. Race fans would not view it as Toyota beating Lexus or vice versa, but instead look at it as just another name in the sport.]