When the FIA’s planned budget cap was announced it quickly became a lightning rod for controversy amongst the established teams. For others, however, the cost cuts meant some long-held Formula One dreams were given a potential green light. The FIA is due to release the 2010 entry list on Friday and it could include up to 13 names. We run down the main contenders hoping to join (or in some cases, rejoin) the Formula One paddock next season…

Long before the entry period opened, F1 veterans Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson made public their plans to launch a US-based Formula One team, to prove ‘that American technology, American drivers and the American competitive spirit can compete and win on the F1 global stage’. The pair are ambitious and experienced. British-born Windsor is a former Williams team manager and is best known as an F1 commentator on US television, while American engineer Anderson, recently responsible for the Windshear wind tunnel facility, reprises the technical director role he held with the Ligier F1 team back in the ‘80s. They have already moved into a base in Charlotte, North Carolina, and have started to hire key personnel ahead of a bigger recruitment push in the autumn. They have also begun drawing up a shortlist of prospective American drivers.

In April 2006 Prodrive beat 21 other hopefuls to be named the 12th team on the 2008 grid. However, the Banbury-based outfit planned to use chassis supplied by McLaren, and uncertainty over customer car legality ultimately led them to pull out. News that a cost cap was to be introduced for 2010 reignited Prodrive’s F1 hopes and it came as no surprise when Chairman - and former Benetton and BAR team principal - David Richards announced their entry. Richards has financial backing from investment bank Dar Capital and there is speculation that the team could use the Prodrive-owned Aston Martin name in the future.