BMW, Brawn, quiet over 2010 entry deadline

Of the current Formula One grid, only two or three existing teams may sign up to contest the 2010 world championship by the FIA's May 29 deadline.

Official entry forms can begin to be submitted on Friday, but outfits including Ferrari, Renault, Toyota and the Red Bull teams have indicated they will miss the deadline due to the controversy about budget caps.

Of the remaining five outfits, McLaren-Mercedes - having only recently escaped the FIA's wrath over 'lie-gate' - are holding out for a solution, while BMW-Sauber has said the imposition of cut-price budget caps may turn off BMW's executive board.

BMW motor sport director Mario Theissen in Monaco said more discussions with the FOTA team alliance will take place on Friday.

"We will discuss it then and not make any statements beforehand," the German said in the Principality.

"I would say we need to be positive and we need to be confident and we need to push to get an agreement because it doesn't make sense for any of the stakeholders to damage the platform we have," added Theissen.

Ferrari on Wednesday insultingly mocked a leaked entry list of new private teams that are seemingly willing to fill the gaps left by departed works teams next year.

But Theissen said: "Formula one should be a mixture of manufacturer and independent teams. We can do without neither one nor the other."

It has been suggested that the independent teams Williams, Force India and Brawn may actually make the May 29 deadline because they fully back the budget cap concept.

Brawn chief Ross Brawn, while admitting his team personally supports budget capping, would not confirm the speculation in Monaco.

"I don't want to comment on that particular point yet, because of the discussions going on," he told F1's official website.

"We as a team always supported the idea of the budget cap, but what we don't want is a budget cap that forces other teams to leave Formula One," the Briton added.