The Renault F1 team's managing director Jean Francois Caubet has suggested that a Japanese manufacturer is interested in entering the sport from the start of 2013, the first year of the new turbocharged 'green' engine formula.
The FIA confirmed earlier this month that the sport would switch to a 1.6-litre, four cylinder turbocharged formula from the start of the 2013 season, ditching the aging 2.4-litre V8 units currently being used.
The plan was to help make F1 greener, with the new engines set to help drive down fuel consumption and utilise greater energy recovery systems.
After a series of high-profile manufacturer withdrawals from the sport in recent years, only two full manufacturer efforts remain on the grid, with Ferrari and Mercedes backed by engine supply-only projects from Renault and Cosworth.
But with the new rules already apparently piquing the interest of the Volkswagen car company, Caubet told the motorsport-total.com website this weekend that there may well be a Japanese company interested in joining the grid in 2013.
"The engine for 2013 evens out the playing field," Caubet said in the interview, suggesting that the 2013 rules will help F1's engine suppliers to start from scratch after Renault were left behind in the power stakes during the 2.4-litre era.
He added: "The dossier of the FIA speaks for itself. There are technological innovations; the competition is completely open.
"There are precise rules for the costs, the materials, the number of engines per season and the [rev] limit. Technologically, we have great freedom."
He smiled that: "Everyone starts with a blank sheet of paper. May the best win."
When asked if he was confident that the sport would attract new blood with the new rules, he added that there was another company interested in an F1 bid, along with the VW interest.
"It is the Japanese," Caubet revealed, refusing to confirm which company he was referring to, "I am surprised by their interest in the new engine, but of course the cost aspect may have changed the attitude.
He added: "The Europeans are in front, the technologies are new -- I suppose they cannot afford to not be here."
Recently, the two big Japanese manufacturers have left F1 following unsuccessful stints on the grid. Honda withdrew before the start of the 2009 season, while Toyota followed at the end of that season.
But the report from motorsport-total.com suggested that it was Honda who were giving serious consideration to an F1 return in the future.
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