Sir Richard Branson of Virgin has admitted interest in bringing his brand to Formula One if some much needed changes are brought to the sport. This was disclosed when the British billionaire was asked about reports that his company is poised to rescue the Brackley-based team. The team’s future was thrown into doubt by the withdrawal of owner carmaker Honda.

“We’d need to be sure that Bernie Ecclestone is running it, that the teams can make ends meet and we’d need to be sure that he’s on a path to turn Formula One in to a sport that is championing green technology,” he said. He welcomed Ecclestone’s comments earlier this week that Branson is ‘exactly the type of person’ F1 is seeking.

“I’m delighted he said it and it would be great fun,” Branson said, “and subject to those two provisos maybe something might be able to get sorted out.”