Renault pushes Williams to re-join FOTA
Probably due to the uncertainty about Toyota's participation beyond 2009, Williams is on the lookout for an alternate engine supply and is believed to be eyeing the Renault deal currently used by Mercedes-bound Red Bull.
"The engine situation is still a work in progress but I think we are relatively clear on which direction we want to go in," chief executive Adam Parr said.
According to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, however, Flavio Briatore has told his Williams counterpart Frank Williams that he must re-join FOTA before the engine deal is signed.
Williams, whose logo was never removed from the FOTA website and official stationary, was expelled from the body earlier this year because it broke ranks and signed up unconditionally for the 2010 championship amid the FOTA breakaway threat.
Sir Frank Williams said in June: "If you're expelled from school, you don't tend to go back do you?"
It is reported that the similarly suspended Force India has also been invited to re-join FOTA and is likely to do so shortly, while the first of the new F1 teams to ask to join the association is USF1.
However, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said there is real uncertainty about USF1's plans for 2010, despite signing YouTube's Chad Hurley as a backer.
The publication said "only desks and computers" are to be found currently at the outfit's Charlotte base.