The plan to introduce customer cars in Formula 1 next year appears to have been killed off.
The controversial initiative was backed by FIA president Max Mosley, who saw it as a way of safeguarding the future of F1s smaller teams.
But, speaking to reporters at Interlagos, F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone poured cold water on the idea and signalled that the plans are likely to be dropped.
It was probably not such a good idea after having a good think about it, he said.
Its not really fair because you can run a customer car much, much cheaper.
And if you run a good customer car, you push out some of the constructors who shouldnt be pushed out.
Citing just such an argument, Williams has recently sought arbitration over Prodrives projected entry for the 2008 world championship using customer McLaren-Mercedes.
F1 teams have argued all season about the implications of allowing customer cars into the sport and, specifically, what proportion of F1s revenues, if any, teams running customer cars should be entitled to.
Asked whether it had been impossible to accommodate customer cars within F1s legal framework, Ecclestone conceded that it was not easy.
And then, on the subject of whether the initiative was dead, Ecclestone added: Yep, I think so.
McLarens chief operating officer Martin Whitmarsh has admitted to having mixed feelings on the desirability of customer cars.
He said: I think we have to be very careful because an interesting ingredient of F1, good or bad, has been that to be a competitor you had to be a constructor.
Formula 1 has to be cautious before it discards that element of its makeup.
Its something which has been a differentiator of F1.
Philosophically, McLaren has consistently voiced its concerns that we might change that definition.
On the other hand, if you can do it, then we will try to do it and have a go at working with other teams.
Whether thats hypocrisy on our part, I dont know.
Its rather like single ECUs [electronic control units] as far as Im concerned McLaren was the strongest team against it and the only team to finally vote against it, but if thats what F1 wants then we will try and play our part.
We voiced our concerns about customer cars with Max six months ago and said to him, are you really going to do it?
He said yes, and so on that basis we made it clear we were prepared to work with another team.
If it doesnt happen, it doesnt happen. We are not wedded to the idea.
Super Aguri chief Daniele Audetto has more strident views on the subject, however, arguing that constructors should not be undercut or the terms under which they compete changed.
He said: When we signed the Concorde Agreement and when we entered the world championship, it was guaranteed to Aguri Suzuki and to me that we could share identical cars without losing benefits. On this basis, we signed.
If this is the end of the road for customer cars, it will be viewed as a victory for pukka long-term constructors such as Williams, who feared that such a fundamental change rendered their current business model untenable.
It also places Prodrives participation in next years championship in serious doubt, with Ecclestone admitting he would prefer to see another manufacturer enter F1 in 2009.
) as well as seeing Gary Paffett and Pedro De La Rosa race (although not confirmed) Its a shame really..... 
