Sauber waits on grid slot, as Mercedes eyes Brawn buy-in

Four years after buying the team BMW has sold Sauber to Qadbak Investments, a Swiss-based foundation with Qatari connections which was recently involved in the purchase of Notts County Football Club.

Having lost a guaranteed place on the grid when BMW declined to sign the Concorde Agreement the team has been listed by the FIA as the 14th entry for 2010, and thus has reserve status, pending the loss of another team. But the FIA has indicated that it might be possible to extend the grid to 28 cars.

Mercedes is moving towards the purchase of a 75 per cent stake in Brawn GP as the company seeks to split with McLaren and have a greater say in how its F1 team operates. McLaren’s decision to produce the MP4-12C supercar has further alienated Mercedes, which has a 40 per cent shareholding in the group but is outvoted by Ron Dennis, Mansour Ojjeh and their Bahraini partners. Because of an exclusivity arrangement Mercedes will initially buy into the Brawn team with backing from Aabar Investments, a state-backed Abu Dhabi concern that owns nine per cent of Daimler.

USF1 has confirmed that YouTube founder Chad Hurley has come on board as an investor, while Virgin is expected to announce its involvement in Manor at the Abu Dhabi GP. Virgin Galactic boss and former 747 pilot Alex Tai is the new team principal.

Failed entry bidder Lola has revealed a model of the car that was destined for the 2010 grid.