Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger sounds pessimistic about his chances of keeping the Faenza based team going into the future.

The Austrian recently denied he "demanded" Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz increase his support rather than vow to sell his 50 per cent share.

Toro Rosso's future is also clouded by the fact that, by 2010, it will only be allowed to compete with a car that is fully designed and built at its own factory.

"I would struggle to carry on alone (without Red Bull)," Berger is quoted as saying by Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I need the backing of a car manufacturer. Which isn't there," he added.

Following this year's collapse of the Super Aguri team, meanwhile, it is feared that the worsening global financial crisis could compel other competitors to pull out.

"Those teams that are very dependent on car manufacturers for funding and don't have commercial sponsors might be under more pressure," former team boss David Richards told Reuters.

"But there is unlikely to be any knee-jerk reaction. (Withdrawing) is such a high-profile decision to make."

Williams CEO Adam Parr believes it would be very simple for the new FOTA alliance of teams to find ways to halve annual budgets.

"I know that because, guess what, I know what we are spending. Why does anyone have to spend more than Williams spend on going racing?" he wondered.

Source: GMM