F1: New team may make bow in Malaysia

British businessman Charles Nickerson has been named as the man behind the plans for a 12th team to enter Formula One.

Nickerson’s Phoenix Finance Ltd company has bought some of the assets of the bankrupt Prost team as well as their entry into this season’s championship.

The team, which will be based at a site in Britain, could be competing at the next race in Malaysia in a fortnight’s time.

But they could still face a court battle with Minardi boss Paul Stoddart, who is furious at the development, insisting that rival team chief Tom Walkinshaw is behind the deal.

There could also be problems regarding an entry for the remainder of this season, depending on the exact state of the liquidation process involving the team run by four-time former champion Prost.

Walkinshaw says he has not bought some of the assets of Prost, which was declared bankrupt by a French court last January, but confirmed that his Leafield-based TWR group will provide technical support to the new team.

Nickerson has bought the French team’s entry to the Formula 1 World Championship, the intellectual rights to last year’s AP04 car and the AP05 and a built AP05 chassis.

He has rented the APO4 cars for an undisclosed period and if he gets the go-ahead from FIA, the sport’s world governing body, can race them this year, although it will not be under the Prost banner.

Former Prost drivers Tomas Enge of the Czech Republic and Argentina’s Gaston Mazzacane are understood to have been ‘‘named’’ as the drivers but others could be in the car if the team gets to the grid.