Robert Kubica could be about to find himself free of his Renault contract, according to an Italian media report.

Group Lotus is reportedly looking to get involved with the Enstone based team in a EUR 60 million deal that could involve the outfit being renamed Lotus-Renault in 2011 and beyond.

With the French carmaker Renault SA’s involvement also reportedly changing, the situation could have knock-on effects for a range of existing team contracts, a report in Autosprint claims.

One of those contracts could be that of highly-rated Polish driver Kubica, who reportedly “would be free to choose another team”.

Joan Villadelprat on Monday insisted he has not given up on bringing his Spanish Le Mans team Epsilon Euskadi into formula one.

The Spaniard tried to acquire the thirteenth and final team entry for 2011, but the FIA ruled that none of the applicants had the financial resources to justify the go-ahead.

But Villadelprat told the Noticias de Gipuzkoa that the 13th entry is not the only route into F1.

“We have not thrown in the towel,” he confirmed.

“The most important thing in formula one is the funding that allows you develop for the long-term. We already have the infrastructure and human capacity.

“We are still working with a range of investors and we hope soon to have a final decision,” added Villadelprat. “If the decision is positive, we have a range of options.

“We can go for the 13th entry in 2012, or for 2011 buy an existing team.”

He ruled out buying the struggling HRT team.

“We are not in contact with them,” said Villadelprat, with decades of experience in F1 with Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton and Prost.

“But we are confident that there are licenses available, because there are several teams in a very delicate economic situation,” he added.

“If we secure the budget for the next four years to take over the project of one of these teams, we will — otherwise, no.”

Despite earlier expressing some reservations, Jaime Alguersuari is now sure he will be at the wheel of a Toro Rosso in 2011.

When boss Franz Tost initially said the Faenza based team’s current drivers would both be retained next year, both Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi seemed unconvinced that owner Red Bull was also fully in agreement with the news.

Then in Japan less than two weeks ago, Austrian Tost repeated his announcement that Toro Rosso’s driver lineup is not changing for 2011.

“I have great respect for Sebastien Buemi,” Alguersuari, 20, is quoted as saying by the Spanish news agency EFE.

“And the official and final confirmation of our continuing contracts in 2011, confirmed in Japan both for Buemi and myself, will make us stronger,” added the Spaniard.

Alguersuari insists he has developed at a great rate since debuting in Hungary last year with no experience at the wheel of a F1 car.

He said he has gone “from being the biggest rookie in history to feeling at 20 years old almost like a veteran”.

“I feel very happy with Toro Rosso, which is like a big family, and I’m very proud of myself,” added Alguersuari.

He also said Toro Rosso’s 2010 car is the “only one” among the existing teams not yet using an F-duct in races; a development he expects will add “half a second” to the STR5′s pace when it is finally ready.

Stefan GP pulled out of the running for the 13th team entry for 2011 because the FIA’s selection process was too slow.

That is the view of Zoran Stefanovic, who after missing out on a place on this year’s grid vowed to try again for the 2011 season.

Alongside other contenders including Villeneuve/Durango and Epsilon Euskadi, the Serbian outfit tackled the initial stages of the selection process, but ultimately pulled out in August.

“We had applied at the beginning but we found out that the process was too long and it didn’t give us assurances on the time when someone will be chosen as the 13th team,” Stefanovic told f1pulse.com.

When the FIA invited expressions of interest for the 13th place in March, the governing body said its decision would be made in July.

But the decision, with the FIA ultimately ruling that the team place should be left open, was made only this month.

Stefanovic said September is “too late to go in and design a car for next year”.

“We think it (the process) should be faster and we think it’s necessary to have a 13th team,” he added.

Contrary to the ‘plan B’ announced by Jacques Villeneuve, Stefanovic said he is not currently contemplating taking over an existing team.

“At the moment we are not doing that thing specifically,” he said. “We will see in the future what we can do.”

Joan Villadelprat insists he is not giving up on bringing his Spanish Le Mans team Epsilon Euskadi into formula one.

After the FIA said on Wednesday it has decided to leave the 13th team entry vacant for now, Jacques Villeneuve said his partnership with Italian outfit Durango will now try to enter the sport by buying into an existing team.

Villadelprat, boss of the only other applicant, has adopted a similar stance.

“The 13th license was one way but not the only way to get into formula one,” he said.

Villadelprat admitted recently that it had not managed to accrue a full financial package for his F1 team.

“Without this capital it would be unfeasible to carry out the F1 project that we want,” he acknowledged on Wednesday.

“We have the ideal facilities and workforce for formula one and we will keep working to get there sooner or later,” he added.

French GP2 team ART could merge with an existing team rather than go it alone in formula one next year.

The outfit headed by FIA president Jean Todt’s son Nicolas has applied to debut in 2011.

But Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo reports that ART is also looking at other options, including merging with the under-financed former BMW-owned outfit Sauber.

The move would make Spanish hopeful Epsilon Euskadi, already with a state of the art headquarters, wind tunnel and proven Le Mans car-making abilities, the favourite to fill the 13th team slot next year.

“I think we have arguments that are difficult to refute,” said Epsilon’s Joan Villadelprat.

On the other hand, El Mundo said Peter Sauber’s ambition for his struggling Hinwil based squad is to “find a strong and stable partner and again retreat into the background”.