BMW sell F1 team to Swiss-based Qadbak

BMW has sold its Formula One team to Qadbak Investments, a Swiss-based foundation representing unnamed Middle Eastern interests, and expects it to compete next season despite losing a guaranteed slot.

In July, Qadbak bought Notts County, England's oldest Football League club, through their Munto Finance company.

The Munich carmaker put the team up for sale after announcing in July that they were pulling out of the sport at the end of the season. They had bought an 80 per cent stake in Sauber in 2005.

The team, whose new name has yet to be revealed, has no guaranteed slot on the starting grid for 2010 after the FIA decided yesterday to give the place to Lotus F1.

However, the FIA said BMW-Sauber had been given a 14th place as reserve in case any of the other teams already signed up for 2010 decided to withdraw before the start of the season.

The governing body added that there was also a good case to expand the starting grid to 14 teams, with 28 cars, and would urgently consult existing entries to see if the regulations could be changed.

BMW-Sauber could secure their place even without a rule change, with lingering speculation about the future of several existing teams.

Renault face a hearing in Paris next week to answer charges that they ordered Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately in Singapore last year and help team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race.

If found guilty, they could be excluded from the championship.

FIA president Max Mosley warned last week that more manufacturers could follow BMW and Honda, who quit at the end of last year, out of the sport before the start of the season.

Four new teams - Manor, US F1, Campos F1 and Lotus F1 - are due to make their debuts next season.