Parent company Ford put the team up for sale in September.

"The whole negotiation process and the deadline for any deal with an investor has been extended by 10 days," a Jaguar spokesman told The Guardian newspaper.

"But we have to know by 9 November as entries for next year's championship must be in by 15 November."

Former F1 world champion Mansell is believed to be involved with the Brand Synergy consortium, which will also make a simultaneous bid for the team's engine supplier Cosworth.

Mansell - F1 is too boring

"All I can say is that the staff are totally committed to keep working as hard as possible, working on developing next year's car in the hope that all will be well," said managing director David Pitchforth.

"We have had some really good results from our wind-tunnel programme and in any other year, we would be extremely excited about our prospects for next season.

"As it is, we're just keeping our fingers crossed."

If the talks are unsuccessful then about 350 people employed in the F1 side of the company could be out of work.