Brawn confident team will race in 2010

Initially with a budget only for 2009, and as yet not officially signed up to race next year, Ross Brawn is nonetheless confident his championship-leading team will still be around next season.

"I'm completely confident (we will be), and you have to plan on that," the Briton, who headed the Brackley outfit's management buyout following the Honda withdrawal, told the British media this week.

Brawn GP's results success stirred the interest of corporate backers, but as yet no major deals have been inked: probably predominantly due to the sponsors' nervousness about the political crisis.

Brawn, and other major teams, have been given only until Friday to finalise an unconditional FIA entry for 2010, so until then there can no concrete planning either for the current series or an alternative.

But Brawn said the factory at Brackley is already working on next year's F1 car.

"There's nothing else to plan for," he confirmed. "We cannot allow this row to be a distraction to our engineering and racing plans.

"We've been working on the new car for about a month now," added Brawn. "About a third of our wind tunnel time at the moment is spent on the new car."