Potential buyers steering clear of investing in Formula One teams

Since the rod of iron that controlled Formula One was exchanged for a whip, the sport has appeared to be struggling to maintain its image of order. Caught up in the vacuum are the poor Super Aguri team, who are looking for a saviour and may have run their final grand prix in Spain last weekend.

The Magma Group, backed by Dubai International Capital, the investment company that is trying to buy Liverpool Football Club, has already pulled out of negotiations to take over the team. It could hardly have been encouraged by the scandal around the sadomasochistic orgy involving Max Mosley, president of the FIA, the ruling body.

Another potential buyer has walked away for good. Tony Teixeira, who runs the A1GP series, which is at Brands Hatch this weekend, says he wanted to move into Formula One but has abandoned ideas of buying a team because of rules that could hamper a takeover of Super Aguri.

Mosley wanted to allow “customer teams”, who would buy off-the-peg cars from other teams, to enter the sport. That would open up the grid and allow some new faces into Formula One. But the plan has suffered fierce internal opposition, notably from Williams and Force India, who are prepared to go to law to do away with customer outfits, demanding instead that every team in Formula One manufacture their own cars. David Richards, owner of Prodrive, the British motorsport company, was the first victim, with plans for a new team sunk by the legal challenge.

Now Super Aguri are at risk and Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of Red Bull, is said to be desperate to get rid of his half share of Toro Rosso, effectively Red Bull's customer team. Teixeira was linked with both but has given up, saying that to invest in Formula One would be “madness”. It seems that Mosley's version of a bigger grid is going into reverse, with one possible new entry wiped out before it got going and two more teams in danger.

Wheldon gets the taste for Hollywood

Dan Wheldon, from Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire but virtually unknown in Britain, has succumbed to the Hollywood look and had his teeth straightened and bleached. He spent 30 hours in the chair, he reckons, an investment that should be recouped as he stars in the run-up to the Indianapolis 500 next month, America's biggest motor racing event, that he won in 2005.

Dame Tanni keeping busy in retirement

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain's most successful Paralympian, is emerging as a national treasure in her retirement. Yesterday, she was presented as an ambassador for Asda's new £2million Sporting Chance scheme, aimed at getting more youngsters into sport, before dashing into Central London to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sport Industry Awards last night.

Perry and Maguire singing the blues

A late finish to their quarter-final in the 888.com World Snooker Championship did not stop the fun for Joe Perry and Stephen Maguire. They were seen singing the night away at the karaoke bar near Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. Perry's fellow semi-finalist and the old man of snooker, Stephen Hendry, 39, sensibly had an early night.