David Richards, chairman of Aston Martin and Prodrive, has revealed that he will not ride to F1's rescue this year to take the slots of either Campos or USF1 if they fail to make it to the grid.

Richards told Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt yesterday that "it is not practical for us to consider any involvement this year as preparing a credible entry is not feasible." However, he adds "we will watch as the situation unfolds and we are certainly ready to consider any appropriate opportunities for our involvement in the future."

Prodrive's entry was snubbed by the FIA in favour of Campos, USF1 and Manor but Richards says that if his bid had been accepted the sport would not be engulfed in uncertainty over its new entrants as is currently the case. "Having been there before, Prodrive always knew this would be a daunting task although had our original bid been accepted by the FIA last June we had the infrastructure in place and the finance secured to be ready for the 2010 season."

He adds that "I am not too surprised at how difficult some of the teams are finding the challenge of both building the technical infrastructure and finding the finance to launch their Formula 1 programmes."

We will soon find out whether the hurdle has been too high for them.