Williams director of engineering Patrick Head says his team would support Ferrari's push for three-car teams in Formula 1 - but only if the additional entry was reserved for rookie drivers.
Ferrari has been strongly advocating a move to optional three-car team line-ups in recent weeks, suggesting that it could allow the likes of Michael Schumacher to make occasional appearances to boost public interest in the sport.
The Italian squad currently has an abundance of drivers for 2010, with Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella, Marc Gene and Luca Badoer in reserve, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa both under contract - despite question marks over the former's future and the latter's fitness - and Fernando Alonso still strongly linked to a move from the troubled Renault team.
Head suggested that Ferrari's potential driver dilemma was probably the motivation for its three-car team pleas.
"I know Ferrari are very keen on it, they find themselves with rather a lot of drivers at the moment, so they're pushing for it," said Head.
"We wouldn't be against it as long as the third car had somebody who could be genuinely called a young driver, because Formula 1 needs to bring in new people.
"The point has been raised by Ferrari, and we went back to Ferrari to say that we wouldn't necessarily be against it, but it would need drivers who hadn't been in Formula 1 before.
"If somebody was running Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher - for instance - I'm not sure that would be ideal."
Third cars have previously been permitted in the regulations only if the entry fell to 16 cars or less, but with potentially 14 teams in Formula 1 next year, shrinking grids are unlikely to be a factor.
Head said he would expect midfield teams to be against the top squads running three drivers.
"The difficulty is, for teams who feel that they might be further down the grid, let's say the McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Brawn are the fastest cars, if they suddenly bring in a third car and that car can score points, it shunts all the others further down and makes it less likely that they can score points," he said.
"We would aim not to be in a position where we'd be worried about being pushed back by other people, but we could be if we put up performances like we did in Italy."
But he added that there was no strong financial argument against third cars.
"We've looked at it before, and by the time you've done all your R&D, with no in-season testing, the added cost of entering a third car is not huge," said Head.
"If we had to run a third car, we would do it."
He believes three car teams would allow young drivers to get the experience they are currently denied by the testing ban, and would mean reserves were better prepared if they had to deputise for full-time race drivers.
Although the teams are still permitted a young driver testing session, this is in the winter rather than during the championship.
"If your driver falls off his mountain bike in August, then having run some young lad in December is not going to be terribly helpful," Head said.
Third cars could be a bonus for test drivers like Nico Hulkenberg
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