Minardi boss Paul Stoddart has cast doubt on the ability of teams without the support of a motor manufacturer to survive in modern Formula One.

Stoddart says he would take any partnership with a car maker that came his way.

But there are none looking to enter F1 at the moment, and teams like Minardi and Jordan, who have to pay for their engines, are struggling for money.

I don't know if the private teams can survive Paul Stoddart

Stoddart said: "As far as equity partners and manufacturers are concerned, we are not in talks with any manufacturers.

"Yes, we would like to be. We run on the leanest, meanest budget in F1 and it would be an asset to any manufacturer, but that's their decision, not mine.

"I think really what we are looking at here is the question of can the private teams survive and to be honest I don't know.

"There are three of us left in F1 now, we have seen two go in the last 12 months. It's not easy.

"The world as a whole is not perhaps as easy a place to gather sponsorship from as it was in years gone by, but we are fighting as hard as we know how."

Stoddart claims to be most of the way towards a budget for 2003, while Jordan admit that they are still struggling to find finds.

Sauber are the only other privateer team left in F1, which has lost Prost and Arrows with financial problems within the last year.

But Stoddart, who has given Britain's Justin Wilson his break for the new season, which gets underway in March, is excited about his contract for Ford Cosworth engines in 2003.

The aviation tycoon reckons the same-spec engine a used by Jaguar last year can help his low-budget team move up the grid.

"Our engine package is the most exciting that we have ever had in the 19-year history of Minardi," he said.

"It's an engine that is obviously a Ford Cosworth, it is an engine that was on the podium in Monza this year, and it gives us incredible horsepower.

"We are talking about a 70bhp increase over the engine we had last year and we are really, really genuinely looking forward to using this engine.

"And, of course, Cosworth is a company that is near and dear to our heart, we know them, they know us, and it should be a tremendous relationship."