Richards was team boss at BAR and Benetton

"We are taking a very slow process to this," Richards told the official Formula One website.

"If my strategy works, as I am confident it will, then we will partner one of the leading teams."

Renault and McLaren are being tipped to potentially link up with the Oxfordshire-based newcomers.

Honda, Toyota, Renault and Ferrari already supply other teams with engines, leaving BMW and McLaren partners Mercedes without partners at present.

Richards said Prodrive had looked into the option of building a team from scratch with a new manufacturer to the sport and had talked to two potential partners before ruling it out.

"My experience of building organisations has taught me that there is a tendency to rush off and employ people quickly and build things that you subsequently find unnecessary and people that you don't really need," he said.

"I'm going to be very frugal about that. I'm running a business and the business at the end of the day must work. It must be profitable and successful.