Ever since Ford announced that it was to pull out of F1, and was therefore putting both Jaguar Racing and Cosworth Racing up for sale, there have been no end of conspiracy theories, several of them involving one of F1's true 'duckers and divers', Flavio Briatore.

It's been said that the Italian could step in and do a Mecachrome type deal at Cosworth, basically snapping up the supply of F1 engines and then waiting to see if F1 implodes and a new series rises from the ashes - in need of his engines - or perhaps FIA president Max Mosley will give up on his quest for a 2.4 litre V8 engines.

Then again, it's suggested that Flavio doesn't have the money required for such a deal.

On the other hand, Bernie Ecclestone does.

Although Ford has pulled the plug on F1 it remains a signatory to the Concorde Agreement until the end of 2007, and therefore if it is pulling out there is still a sizeable amount of compensation to be paid.

We have a feeling that Flavio Briatore could be involved in a deal involving Cosworth, what's more we believe Bernie Ecclestone is also involved, after all wasn't it Mr E who snapped up all those Ford DFVs so many years ago, and then created F3000? Control of Cosworth Racing could prove to be a useful tool should the manufacturers play the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC) card, for Bernie would have a ready supply of engines - for a price - and could thereby tell the manufacturers to go take a walk.

Flavio Briatore's contract with Renault runs out at the end of 2005, and the Italian has said that he will almost certainly leave the French outfit at that time. That said, we hear that Briatore is unhappy with his current contract with Renault and particularly the fact that he is being paid less than at least one of his opposite numbers in the paddock.

Briatore is the man behind GP2, the series that will replace F3000 in 2005, and clearly is looking to a future that will not involve running Renault's F1 team.

A deal with Cosworth Racing seems quite sensible, especially if Bernie is involved.

Furthermore, there are many that believe that when Richard Parry-Jones announced that Jaguar Racing was to be sold, while at the same time giving potential purchasers every reason to say no to such a deal, he knew that a deal regard the team had already been done.

What if? Indeed.