Ron lays down the law

[The Stig]

Ron Dennis says time is running out for new formula one entrant Prodrive to commit to buying cars and engines from McLaren-Mercedes for the 2008 season.

David Richards-led Prodrive has already scheduled a significant announcement for the upcoming British grand prix, but McLaren chairman Dennis says mid-July is actually a rigid deadline for existing talks to be finalised.

"We don't want to do anything if there isn't an official announcement in July," the English language Autoweek quoted Dennis say telling Italy's Autosprint weekly.

Prodrive's Richards has already hinted that McLaren-Mercedes is the frontrunner to supply both customer cars and engines to his team next year, but he also insisted that there are other options.

Dennis continued: "Prodrive is ambitious, and it has a solid historical base. But to take this project forward, we need the documentation to be perfect.

"That means it must not expose us to the risk of dispersing our resources, nor expose us to other financial risks. Time is now really getting short.

"If by, let's say, mid-July, we don't have a binding contract, then it's highly unlikely we'll commit to a programme for 2008."