Formula One teams are set to block attempts to expand the competition to 14 teams next year, leaving the remnant of the BMW Sauber team in limbo.
The Swiss-based team had been put in a position of first reserve should any of the other current teams or the slated four new entries pull out before the 2010 season.
The team had hoped rules could be changed to allow an expansion to 14 teams, but that would require a change to the Concorde Agreement governing the sport. Any such change to the Concorde Agreement needs unanimous approval, and that was unlikely.
"It's illogical to change the rules suddenly for one extra person," Williams team principal Frank Williams said in Autosport. "And they may have a chance of getting in, based on the gossip that's going around."
That gossip suggests at least one of the slated 13 teams for 2010 will not take part in next year's championship, so the Sauber team - BMW will pull out at season's end - may get in without a need for a 14th license.
"I think 14 teams is too many, but I personally would agree to supporting Sauber," Williams said. "One because they deserve it and two because I don't think there will be 14 teams anyway."
