Mar.5 (GMM) David Richards has hit out at chiefs of the long-standing British formula one team Williams for getting in the way of Prodrive's grand prix debut.

Prodrive, already in world rallying with Subaru, was slated to enter the 2008 formula one championship after winning the FIA's twelfth entry.

But Grove based Williams threatened to launch legal action if the outfit went ahead with contentious plans to race a full McLaren-Mercedes 'customer' package.

The Prodrive issue was also complicated by the delay over a new Concorde Agreement, with Prodrive's prospective backers reluctant to commit to the sport without a solid commercial document in place.

Richards, however, expresses the most irritation about Williams' opposition.

"It seems to me they are protecting a position which is outdated, and doesn't serve them very well either, when you look at their financial records.

"It's run by people who want to go motor racing, not by people who want to run a business," he told Racer magazine.

Richards said formula one as a whole may live to regret not allowing teams like his to fully explore the 'customer car' business model.

"I think that we'll be sitting down in two years' time missing two manufacturers and saying 'Why didn't we do this?'

"There's no other way of allowing people to come in. And once the (new) Concorde Agreement is written, then it'll be very difficult to change things," he said.