Bidding to form a team in 2011 was too great a risk for  Prodrive, the famous motor racing brand’s boss David Richards has admitted.

The Briton and Aston Martin chief had attempted to form a team in previous years, but said in April that Prodrive will instead concentrate on world rallying and sports car racing.

On Sunday, he is quoted as saying the decision was driven by his concern for his 579 staff.

“I wasn’t prepared to risk everyone’s livelihoods,” he told the Independent, adding: “It was quite interesting to watch the reaction of everybody when I told them.

“The biggest fear people at Prodrive had is that we were going to risk everything on one throw of the dice by entering F1.”

Now, Prodrive is expected to team up for a world rallying bid in 2011 with formula one refugee Toyota.

“We want to be prepared if and when we get a call from Japan to go and compete,” a spokesman for Cologne based Toyota Motorsport confirmed.

(GMM)

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